Lord's, or do you think that the longer a bless- From the Christian Instructor. ALLEGED DEFECT IN THE COURSE OF TIME." Let us diligently prepare for this last journey. Let unconverted men remember, that however reluctant to it, they must take it. The wicked is drawn away in his wickedness, and his end is destruction. Now (for to-morrow it may be too late) let him forsake his way, and let him turn to the Lord with earnest cries for pardon through the atonement, and sanctification through the spirit, of the Lord Jesus, and he shall obtain both. And let good men have their loins girt and their lamps burning for this journey. Let them, like the Israelites, have their staff in their hand and their shoes on their feet. Let them not think it enough to visit the grave when they deposit their friends there, but let them do it in solemn reflection daily. Let them do it in the morning, and meditate on SIR, I have perused with much pleasure the glory which will awake in the house of si- the Review of The Course of Time," publence, on the light which shall be poured on lished in your October Number. I had previthose that dwell in the dust, and on the dew ously read the Poem itself with the greatest which shall be a refreshing from the presence delight, and from a knowledge of the uniform of the Lord. Let us do it at mid-day, and let support given to Evangelical principles in us muse on that final pause from all the toils of your excellent Magazine, and of the taste and life which will soon come. Let us do it in the talent always exhibited in it, had anticipated evening, and let us remember the aged who the very favourable reception which you have have sunk to rest amidst all the stillness of given to this admirable work. But, notwithholy peace, and in the assurance of the Gos- standing all the admiration (indeed rapture I pel hope. Let us do it in the night-watches, may call it,) with which I read through "the and let us think of the cold bed which is spread- Course of Time," there was one circumstance ing for us "in the land of darkness, as dark- which, I confess, astonished me not a little, ness itself." Let us do it in prosperity, that and which I mention, not so much in the way we may rejoice with trembling. Let us do it of finding fault, as in the hope that by the menin adversity, that we may suffer in hope; and tion of the circumstance some satisfactory exlet us do it on the Lord's day, and remember planation of it may be drawn from yourself or Jesus Christ of the seed of David, who was some of your able correspondents. What I alraised from the dead, according to the Gospel.lude to is, that in the whole Poem no particuLet us prepare for going this way, by increasing diligence in the duties of life, by labouring to attain greater spirituality of mind, a stronger faith, and a more ardent desire to depart and to be with Christ. And let us beware of every thing which may fill us with shame, or regret, or fear, when we are dying, either by the neglect of duty, or by our being entangled in the follies and pollutions of the world. What is any present pleasure to the bitter pangs of that hour? The pang of separation is the only feeling with which the dying miser regards his wealth: the shout of triumph hath passed away from the ears of the man of blood, and no sounds then reach it but the curses of the widow and the fatherless; and the wine which once sparkled in the cup now presents nought to the sensualist but dregs, which bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. And though good men live not after the flesh, yet they have found that moments of levity, and neglected oppor-religious worship,-a system of types and shatunities of honouring their Redeemer, have brought bitter reflections to a death-bed pillow. And how unreasonable is it to murmur that our friends are dead! They have gone the way of all the earth. You say I complain only that they were taken away so soon:-and was your claim to their society preferable to their lar allusion is made in any shape whatever to God's chosen and peculiar people, the Jews. Now, in drawing a sketch of the history of man, and of God's merciful dealings with him as a fallen creature, can any fact be more striking, Sir, any more deserving of a writer's notice, than that from among the nations sunk in sin and idolatry, God should choose out a particular family who might be witnesses to his truth, and might preserve his name and worship from being utterly forgotten in the earth? Can any thing be more signally illustrative of God's power and mercy than his dealings with this favoured people, the gracious deliverances which he wrought out for them, and his conducting them through dangers and troubles into the promised land of peace? They were set up an example to the nations, from them the Messiah was to spring, and to them did God by particular revelation grant a system of dows calculated and intended to prepare their minds for the coming of the "Prince of Peace." And, besides, what can be more illustrative of the awful depravity of man, than the fact that even this highly gifted, this heaven-favoured nation, should have been, instead of an obedient and holy, a rebellious, stiff-necked, and marks some explanation may be obtained from From the Sailor's Magazine. THE editor requests the reader to turn to his Bible, and read attentively in the Prophet Joel, chapter the second, the sublime and correct account of the appearance and ravages of these terrific invaders;-and then to read the following instances of the scourge which it has pleased God to send upon some nations-a Scourge from which Britain has been mercifully exempted, and for which her inhabitants ought to be very grateful. Ist. The dreadful plague inflicted upon Egypt when Pharoah refused, at God's command, to let his people go. the sea, from their stench arose a pestilence, which carried off near a million of men and 3d. In the Venetian territory, also, in 1478, more than 30,000 persons are said to have perished in a famine occasioned by these ter rific scourges. gainsaying people, insomuch that though God was even in a peculiar manner present among them, even they "did not like to retain him in their knowledge;" and above all, what can be more awfully illustrative of the truth abovementioned than their treatment of the Desire of all Nations, when, in the fulness of time, he vouchsafed to bless the earth with his presence? Though a rod out of the stem of Jesse," though a Jew according to the flesh, and though his message of love was first addressed to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," yet these were the men foremost to proclaim, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" And when we consider this once favoured people now scattered abroad among the nations by reason of their guilt, a proverb, a bye-word, and a reproach throughout the earth, surely it is worthy of remark as illustrative of the determined wickedness of man's nature, that other nations take so little warning from the sad fate of Israel, that others from this picture learn so little of the hatefulness of sin, but, in the very face of this dread manifestation of God's justice, persevere in their sinfulness and impenitence. These things, I apprehend, could not have es- 2d. In the year 591, an infinite army of locaped the author's discernment, he must have custs, of a size unusually large, grievously raomitted them for good reasons, reasons, how-vaged part of Italy; and, being at last cast into ever, which I have never yet heard explained. It is true that the dispensations of God towards this world have all been gloriously illus-beasts. trative of his gracious declaration, that "mercy shall be built up for ever;" all point to the Messiah as the fulfilment of laws and sacrifices; the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" is the substance and glory of them all. In this view it may indeed be sufficient, in giving a general sketch of the history of man, to point directly to the one grand reality of which all other Divine institutions are but types and emblems. But when we see the wisdom and power of God himself employed to ripen by a laborious and extensive system of legal and ceremonial discipline, the minds of men for the introduction in the fulness of time of the mighty scheme of man's redemption, surely in such a work as that before us it would have been inore pleasing and instructive that his antecedent dispensation had occupied a prominent place in the picture. In that admirable account of the Bible given in the second Book, why should the peculiarities of the Old Testa ment revelation be kept wholly out of view? True it is that this "lamp of Divine light" shone in its brightest lustre when the fulness of time had wholly developed the counsels of the eternal; but why should we not also delight to notice those feebler glimmerings whereby the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and holy men of old were guided and directed in their pilgri- | mage through this dark and howling wilderness? The return also of God's chosen people, as illustrative of the mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah, the fulfilment of the prophecy that "Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, 7th. Major Moor, in the narrative of Capand be quiet, and none shall make him afraid," tain Little's detachment when at Poonah, was might have afforded matter for much interest-witness to an immense army of locusts which ing and useful remark; but the author's silence on the preceding part of the Jewish history necessarily obliged him to observe a similar silence regarding this latter part also. Hoping then, Sir, that by means of the above re 4th. In 1650, a cloud of them was seen to enter Russia in three different places, which, from thence, passed over into Poland and Lithuania, where the air was darkened by their numbers. On some places they were seen lying dead, heaped one upon another, to the depth of four feet; in others they covered the surface like a black cloth; the trees bent down with their weight, and the damage which they did exceeded all computation. 5th. In Languedoc, at a later period, when the sun became hot the locusts took wing, and fell upon the corn, devouring both leaf and ear, and that with such expedition, that in three hours they would consume a whole field. After having eaten up the corn, they attacked the vines, the pulse, the willows, and, lastly, the hemp, notwithstanding its bitterness. 6th. In 1747, vast swarms did infinite damage in Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland. One of them in August was several hundred fathoms in width,-(one at Vienna was three miles in breadth)-and extended to so great a length, as to be four hours in passing over the Red Tower; and such was its density, that it totally intercepted the light of the sun, so that when they flew low, one person could not see another at the distance of twenty paces. ravaged the Mahratta country, and which was supposed to have come from Arabia. The column was stated to extend five hundred miles, and so compact, that, when on the wing, like an eclipse, it completely hid the sun, so that no shadow was cast by any object, and some lofty tombs, distant from his residence not more than two hundred yards, were rendered quite invisible. 8th. Mr. Barron states a still more striking view of the ravages of the locusts in the southern parts of Africa: he states that an area of nearly two thousand square miles might be said literally to be covered by them. When they were driven into the sea by a N. W. wind, they formed upon the shore for fifty miles a bank three or four feet high, and when the wind was S. E. the stench was so powerful as to be smelt at the distance of 150 miles. 9th. From 1778 to 1780, the empire of Morocco was terribly devastated by locusts; every green thing was eaten up, not even the bitter bark of the orange and pomegranate escaping. A most dreadful famine ensued. The poor were seen to wander over the country, deriv ing a miserable existence from the roots of plants; and women and children followed the camels, from whose dung they picked the indigested grains of barley, which they devoured with avidity. In consequence, vast numbers perished, and the roads and streets exhibited the unburied carcases of the dead! On this occasion, fathers sold their children, and husbands sold their wives!! 10th. In 1799, before the plague, the face of the earth, from Mogadore to Tangier, was covered by locusts. The whole region, from the confines of Sahara, was ravaged by them: but on the other side of the river Elkos not one of them was to be seen, though there was nothing to prevent their flying over it. All the country north of El Araiche was full of pulse, fruit, and grain-exhibiting a most striking contrast to the desolation of the adjoining district. At length they were all carried by a violent hurricane into the Western Ocean; the shore, as in former instances, was covered by their carcases, and a pestilence was caused by the horrid stench which they emitted; but, when this evil ceased, their devastations were followed by a most abundant crop. The rushing of whose wings was as the sound But this, however poetic, falls far short in cor- After a serious consideration of these well attested facts, when locusts contend with the two-legged destroyers of the human race for proud pre-eminence in mischief, it will be found difficult to determine to which the palm should be decreed-and the lover of the Bible will admire the propriety with which locusts are selected in holy writ as symbols of the great ravagers of the earth of man's own species. Locusts are not formed for extensive flights, yet it has been stated on credible authority, that, on the 21st of November, 1811, the ship Georgia, Captain Stokes, when the Canary Islands (her nearest land) were distant about 200 miles,-being suddenly becalmed after a fine breeze from the S. E. had afterwards a light air from the N. E. when there fell from an apparent cloud an immense number of large grasshoppers, so as to cover the deck, the tops, and every part of the ship which they could alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted; on the contrary, when an attempt was made to take hold of them, they instantly jumped and endeavoured to elude being taken. The calm, or a very light air, lasted full an hour, and during the whole of the time these insects continued to fall upon the ship and to surround her such as were within reach alighted upon her, but immense numbers fell into the sea, and were seen floating in masses by the sides. with choicest blessings, while other countries have been made to drink deep, in various judgments, of the cup of His fury! Shall they not With what grateful hearts ought the privileged inhabitants of these happy islands to acknowledge and glorify the goodness of that kind Providence which has distinguished them from the less-favoured nations of the globe; A gentleman residing at Smyrna, visiting by what may be deemed an immunity from Ephesus in 1824, in a letter to the writer, de- this tormenting and desolating pest! and esscribes his having travelled through an army pecially when they further reflect, that it is of locusts, who were so numerous as to darken His mercy, and not their merits, which has inthe air, resembling a heavy snow storm, (ex-duced him thus to overwhelm them, as it were, cepting the colour being of a dark yellow instead of white) and so voracious, that some pieces of bread thrown down were instantly devoured. Not only was the air filled with these insects, but the ground covered, so that hundreds were crushed by his horse. And he states, that even a shilling could not be dropped without falling on a locust. They were about one or two inches long, of the shape of a grasshopper, and of a pale nankeen colour. The noise which the locusts make when engaged in the work of destruction, has been compared to the sound of the flame of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite to that of fire. Southey (a living poet) has thus strikingly described the noise produced by the flight and approach of the swarms of locusts. "Onward they came, a dark continuous cloud Of congregated myriads numberless ought they not to see reason for an increased degree of thankfulness and gratitude? ought they not, instead of, in any manner, murmuring or repining, to be well content with their lotthough their offences have not wholly been passed over, and they have been "beaten only with a few stripes?" That these afflictions are not the effects of chance are evident from the various directions of them in the express menaces of God in the predictions of his servants the prophets. The * The reader is requested to turn to the following texts in confirmation of the plagues being by Divine power and direction:-Deut. xxviii. 38, 42.-2 Chron. vii. 13.-Psalms, lxxviii. 46. Ibid. cv. 34.-Joel, i. 4.—Nahum, iii. 15, 17.-Rev. ix. 7. plagues inflicted on Egypt were individually predicted: and the waters in the Nile; the fish of that river; the frogs it brought forth; the lice produced in Egypt's dust; the dreadful increase of flies; the murrain among the cattle; the blains upon man and beast; the destructive pestilence; the devastating hail; and the locusts too!-"If thou refuse," said the servant of the Almighty, "to let my people go, behold! to-morrow will I bring the locusts into the coasts. And in the morning the east wind brought the locusts, which covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees; and there remained not any green thing on the trees or on the herbs of the field through all the land of Egypt!" Even the magicians of that time owned, saying, "This is the finger of God!" Let Christians give equal honour to God, from whose favour are all their enjoyments; and while they also gracefully own concerning them, "This is the finger of God!" let a sense of obligation lead them to thankfulness, and love to God become the fruitful source of a willing obedience to his commands. From the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. SUPERSTITIONS OF INDIA. RETURNING one day from Calcutta, says the late Bishop Heber, I passed by two funeralpiles, the one preparing for a single person, the other nearly consumed, on which a Suttee had just taken place. For this latter purpose a stage had been constructed of bamboos about eighteen inches or two feet above the ground, on which the dead body had been laid, and under which, as my native servants told me, the unhappy widow had been stretched out, surrounded with combustibles. Only a heap of glowing embers was now seen here, besides two long bamboos, which seemed intended to keep down any struggles which nature might force from her. On the stage was what seemed a large bundle of coarse cotton cloth, smoking and partially blackened, emitting a very offensive smell. This, my servants said, was the husband's body. The woman, they expressly affirmed, had been laid below it, and ghee poured over her to hasten her end; and they also said the bamboos had been laid across her. I felt very sick at heart, and regretted I had not been half an hour sooner; though probably my attempts at persuasion would have had no chance of success. I would at least have tried to reconcile her to life. There were perhaps twenty or thirty people present, with about the same degree of interest, though certainly not the same merriment, as would have been called forth by a bonfire in England. I saw no weeping, and heard no lamentations. But when the boat drew near, a sort of shout was raised, I believe in honour of Brahma, which was met by a similar outcry from my boatmen. Suttees are more abundant in the district of Ghazeepoor, than even in the neigbourhood of Calcutta, but chiefly confined to the lower ranks. The last yearly return amounted to above forty; and there were several of which no account was given to the magistrate. It has been, indeed, a singular omission on the part of Government, that, though an ordinance has been passed, commanding all persons celebrating a Suttee to send in notice of their intention to the nearest police officer, no punishment has been prescribed for neglect of this order, nor has it ever been embodied in the standing regulations, so as to make it law, or authorize a magistrate to commit to prison for contempt of it. If Government mean their order respecting the publicity of Suttees to be obeyed, they must give it the proper efficacy; while, if Suttees are not under the inspection of the police, the most horrible murders may be committed under their name. This struck me very forcibly from two facts that were incidentally told me. It is not necessary, it seems, for the widow who offers herself, to burn actually with the body of her husband. His garments, his slippers, his walking-staff,any thing which has at any time been in his possession, will do as well. Brahmin widows indeed are, by the Shaster, not allowed this privilege, but must burn with the body, or not at all. This, however, is unknown or disregarded in the district of Ghazepoor, and most other regions in India. But the person of whom I was told was no Brahmin: he was a labourer who had left his family in a time of scarcity, and gone to live (as was believed) in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad, whence he had once, in the course of several years, sent his wife a small sum of money from his savings, by a friend who was going up the country. Such remittances, to the honour of the labouring class in India, are usual; and, equally to their honour, when entrusted to any one to convey, are very seldom embezzled. Some years after, however, when the son of the absentee was grown up, he returned one day from a fair at a little distance, saying he had heard bad news, and that a man unknown had told him his father was dead. On this authority the widow determined to burn herself; and it was judged sufficient that an old garment of the supposed dead man should be burned with her. Now, it is very plain how easily, if the son wanted to get rid of his mother, he might have brought home such a story to induce her to burn; and it is also very plain, that whether she was willing or no, he might carry her to the stake, and (if the police are to take no cognizance of the matter) might burn her under pretence of a Suttee. How little the interference of neighbours is to be apprehended in such cases, and how little a female death is cared for, may appear by another circumstance which occurred but a short time ago, at a small distance from the city of Ghazeepoor, when, in consequence of a dispute which had taken place between two small freeholders about some land, one of the contending parties, an old man of seventy and upwards, brought his wife, of the same age, to the field in question, forced her, with the assistance of their children and relations, into a little straw hut, built for the purpose, and burned her and the hut together, in order that her death might bring a curse on the soil, and her spirit haunt it after death; so that his successful antagonist should never de-ceive with them. On the other hand, the sa rive any advantage from it. On some horror and surprise being expressed by the gentleman who told me this case, one of the officers of his court, the same indeed who had reported it to him, not as a horrible occurrence, but as a proof how spiteful the parties had been against each other, said very coolly, "Why not?-she was a very old woman,-of what use was she?" The old murderer was in prison, but my friend said he had no doubt that his interference in such a case, between man and wife, was regarded as singularly vexatious and oppressive; and he added, "The truth is, so very little value do these people set on their own lives, that we cannot wonder at their caring little for the life of another. The cases of suicide which come before me, double those of Suttees; men, and still more women, throw themselves down wells, or drink poison, for apparently the slightest reasons, generally out of some quarrel, and in order that their blood may lie at their enemy's door; and unless the criminal in question had had an old woman at hand, and in his power, he was likely enough to have burned himself." Human sacrifices, as of children, are never heard of now in these provinces; but it still sometimes happens that a leper is burned or buried alive; and as these murders are somewhat blended also with religious feeling, a leper being supposed to be accursed of the gods, the Sudder Dewannee, acting upon the same principle, discourages, as I am told, all interference with the practice. The best way, indeed, to abolish it, would be to establish lazar houses, where these poor wretches should be maintained, and, if possible, cured; or, at all events, kept separate from the rest of the people: a policy by which, more than any thing else, this hideous disease has been extirpated in Eu crifice of a child is believed, surely with truth, From the Evangelical Magazine. DR. OWEN'S DYING THOUGHTS. "BETWEEN this Publication (viz. Medita tions on the Glory of Christ,' from which these pages are taken) and the Dying Thoughts' of Baxter," says Mr. Orme, "a considerable similarity subsists. Whatever were the differences between these eminent men on minor points, there was an intimate union between them, in spirituality of affections, in deadness to the world, and in longing aspirations toward that heavenly felicity, so large a portion of which they both enjoyed and diffused on earth." I was much surprised to find in such a situation so large and handsome a place as Banswarra; of which I knew nothing before, except as one of those States which have been noted in India for the wildness and poverty of their inhabitants, and for their abominable custom of murdering the greater part of their female in--See that interesting and useful work-Mefants. moirs of the Life, Writings, &c. of Dr. John Owen," by the Rev. William Orme; pages 442 and 443. This cruel and most unnatural sacrifice it has long been the endeavour of the British Government to induce its vassals and allies to abandon. Major Walker, then resident at Ba- THE views of death, which have been enterroda, thought he had succeeded with the great-tained by wise and good men, in the near proser part of them; but it is believed by most offi- pect of eternity, have always been deemed cers on this side of the country, that the num- highly valuable by pious persons. What were ber saved was very small in proportion to that the views of the great and good Dr. Owen, of the victims. Unhappily, pride, poverty, and may be learned from the following passages, avarice, are in league with superstition to per- extracted from the Preface to his Medita petuate these horrors. It is a disgrace for a tions on the Glory of Christ;" which was the noble family to have a daughter unmarried, last work he ever composed, and which was and still worse to marry her to a person of in- sent to the press the day before he died. As the ferior birth; while they have neither the means preface to a book is generally penned after the nor the inclination to pay such portions as a work itself is finished, we may presume that person of their own rank would expect to re- what is here presented to the reader, was near |