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of his power, to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ standing amid his brother warriors, tattooed with frightful forms, and besmeared with grease and red ochre, raising aloud, not the wild cry of his native woods, but the brotherly appeal to Christian men, "Come over and help us, and come quickly; make haste, for my sun is fast going down!"

This affecting appeal, on the part of the old warrior, who had, no doubt, in his time, felled many a human being with his mery (club) and his tomahawk, and perhaps banqueted afterwards on his flesh; this cry for mercy from the merciless, whose stony heart had been softened by Divine power, struck me very forcibly; and when I reflected, that not unlikely his brow had on it even more wrinkles than my own, the case appeared urgent; time was flying, and I thought of the angel which stood upon the sea, and upon the earth, and lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer, Rev. x. 5, 6. I seemed bound to profit by the voice from the South Pacific ocean, to take up the cry of the subdued savage, in my own case, and to speak thus within my own heart: "Whatever I have to say, let me say it; whatever I have to do, let me do it; time presses, and will not allow me to loiter any longer! let me make haste, for my sun is fast going down."

It may be that these remarks, now dribbling from my poor pen, will be read by those who have numbered more years than old Humphrey; and if so, take it not unkind, my aged friends, that he should include you as well as himself, in a few free and friendly observations. Seeing that we have no time to spare, it may not be amiss to consider, for a moment, the errors and infirmities of age, with a view of avoiding, as much as we can, the one; and of manifesting, as little as we can, the other.

It is said that aged people are too often opinionated, and not sufficiently considerate towards the buoyant spirits and inex. perience of youth; that they are apt to think, that because they are aged, they must of necessity be wise, and are thus led to become dogmatical, and even obstinate. Though these are heavy charges, yet I really am afraid that they are not un

founded. How it may be with you, I cannot; tell but often do I find myself in the attitude of too angrily rebuking the thoughtlessness of the young, when a spirit of forbearance would more become me; and of too tenaciously supporting my own opinion, when it has been but little entitled to consideration.

Aged people are said, also, to be testy and crabbed, showing more churlishness than kindheartedness; they are accused, too, of penuriousness, and sometimes of great negligence in their habits, and in giving trouble to those around them; but instead of dwelling on points which may more or less affect us, let me advert to one in which, I fear, we are all implicated. We do not by our words and deeds, leave a general impression, that we are sensible of the value of time; we do not say, emphatically, by our prevailing spirit, "We see the emptiness of earthly things; we are seeking after a heavenly inheritance; we are standing on the confines of an eternal world; we have no time to spare; we feel that we must make haste, for our sun is fast going down."

Can we wonder that the mature and the young should not be impressed with the brevity and fading nature of human life, when tottering and grey-haired age, leaning on his staff, is seen trifling away time as a thing of nought, and calculating on future years as confidently as though he had but just entered his teens ? The warning voice that has reached us, my aged friends, may have some effect in awakening us to a sense of our real position. It seems to say, however praiseworthy our designs, however excellent our objects, they will be altogether useless if deferred.

Time, like an urgent charioteer,
With winged steeds flies through the year.

The clouds above our heads are flitting through the skies; the ground beneath our feet is rapidly crumbling away. Morning, noon, and night, tread on each other's heels. The time is short." "Make haste!" said the aged chief, "Make haste, for my sun is fast going down!"

But though I thus speak to those of many days, yet have I a word for the smooth brow and the ruddy cheek; for the bright eye, the fair form, and the manly frame. In the days of my youth, an aged oak, hollow, blighted, and almost leafless, stood on a rising ground;

and beside it grew a sapling, green and flourishing. I left them side by side, and returned not to the place till fifteen summers and winters had passed away. And was the old oak gone? Had the sapling become a stately tree? No! There stood the hollow oak as in my younger days; but the place that knew the sapling, knew it no more. Thus has it been with old Humphrey! Thus has he been mercifully preserved, while the young around him have fallen in the dust. Receive then the lesson of instruction that his pen is endeavouring to convey. Reflect on the uncertainty of time; attend, without delay, to things of eternity, and ponder on the arresting words of the New Zealander, "Make haste! for my sun is fast going down."

What a humbling thing it is to be shorn of your strength just at the moment when you most require it! To find yourself weak as infancy, while you yearn for the force of a giant. When I took up my pen, I felt like a mighty man clothed with power. I thought that I could, on this subject, be truly eloquent; but how has the gold of my thoughts, "become dim!" how has the most fine gold of my imaginations become "changed!" Much did I undertake, little indeed have I accomplished; and fain am I now, making a virtue of necessity, to draw from my very helplessness a strong and convincing illustration. If, when full of arduous and highwrought energy, we cannot always secure the object we have in view, how shall we hope to attain it by supineness and neglect ?

Be in earnest, then, my friends, whether you have but lately entered the race that is set before you, or are nearly approaching the goal. What your hands and your heart find to do, do it with all your might; hesitate not, trifle not, delay not, boast not of to-morrow, you know not what a day may bring forth: "Make haste! for your sun is fast going down." What odd whims, what strange thoughts, at times, come into the mind! It is said, that

"A raven once an acorn took,

From Basan's tallest, stoutest tree, And laid it near a limpid brook,

And lived another oak to see."

And here am I, pleasing myself with the thought, that old Humphrey, by taking this cry of the aged chieftain, this New Zealand acorn, and planting it

in your mind and memory may, even yet, live to see it spring up to God's glory. Smile, if you will, at the oddity of my conceit; things more unlikely to happen have taken place; but however this may be, the lowly disciple of the Redeemer, the humble and grateful believer in the gospel of Christ, will not fail to be struck with this fresh proof that "the ways of God are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts."

Here is an uneducated heathen, one who, if he have followed the custom of his tribe, has lived in a rude hut of twigs and grass, clothed himself with mats and rushes, cut his hair with oyster shells, ruthlessly slain his foe with his hennee (halberd) and patoo (battle axe,) drinking his blood, and feasting on his flesh. Here is he, his heart humbled by the power of the gospel, uttering a cry, resounding like a trumpet in Christian ears. A cry that appeals to us all. We know that our life is "even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." We know, too, that "there is but a step between us and death," and yet, knowing these things, we still require to be reminded of them. Oh let the voice from New Zealand be drunk in not by our ears only, but by our hearts, and let our language be, "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days; satisfy me early with thy mercy, and give me to rejoice in thy salvation." Tarry not; come quickly; "Make haste! for my sun is fast going down."

RASH LANGUAGE.

WHEN Sarai, the wife of Abraham, had done wrong, she nevertheless said to her husband, "The Lord judge between me and thee." Who would not conclude from an appeal so solemn, that she has the better cause? And yet, she is appealing to God in a case where she is clearly, consciously, in the wrong. I like not hasty references to Heaven. A truly serious spirit will reflect twice before it interposes the name of God on any occasion, and will shudder at the thought of employing it upon a false or frivolous one. An angry spirit sticks at nothing. For this reason, I would sooner believe a plain, unprofessing man, on his simple word, than ten thousand common swearers under the sanction of as many oaths.-Dr. H. Hunter.

HOUSES OF SEVILLE.

THE houses of this town are, perhaps, the most picturesque in the world. You enter them from a porch or zaguan to a court, round which are marble columns, and these are found not only in the principal, but even ordinary habitations. The arches between the columns support galleries or rooms above. It is usual to inhabit the ground floor in summer time, and the upper story in winter. In the former season, a canvass veil is placed over the whole court during the heat of the day, and removed at night, when the family collect together to receive friends under the galleries or in the courts, whilst flowers are placed round a fountain, which generally plays in the centre, the courts being often paved with marble. The lamps, which hang around the walls in symmetrical arrangement, the bubbling of the water, the fragrance of the flowers, the mystical green branches which spring up in every direction from large earthern pots, give an appearance of romance, which, added to the broken lights, the irregular architecture of the buildings, and the white Ionic columns of marble, present, in every house, a varying subject for the draftsman or the painter. To the sides of the walls are attached mirrors, which reflect all around, and pictures, amongst which were once works of art that would delight the connoiseur. It has been calculated that eighty thousand marble columns exist in Seville; but there assuredly must be a much larger number, for many are buried in the walls, others covered with plaster, and on an average, every house possesses six.-Standish.

Fixing his eye upwards, he was kept from alarm, and safely descended to his father's arms, who, till this moment, had retained his self-possession, but overcome with the excitement of the moment, he fainted away on the deck.

In the tempest of life, when the wave and the gale
Are around, and above, if thy footsteps should fail;
If thine eye should grow dim, and thy courage
depart,
Look aloft, and be firm, and be fearless of heart.
If the friend, who embraced in prosperity's glow,
With a smile for each joy, and a tear for each woe,
Should betray thee, when sorrows like clouds are
array'd,
Look aloft to the friendship which never shall fade.
Should the visions which hope spreads in light to
thine eye,

Like the tint of the rainbow, but brighten to fly;
Return, and through tears of repentant regret,
Look aloft to the Sun which is never to set.

Shall they who are dearest, the love of thy heart;
The friend of thy bosom, in sorrow depart;
Look aloft from the darkness and dust of the tomb,
To that soil where affection is ever in bloom.

And, oh! when death comes in wild terrors to cast

His fears on the future, his pall on the past;

In that moment of darkness, with hope in thine heart,

And a smile in thine eye, look aloft, and depart!

WORLDLY HONOURS.

How loosely do honours sit on men, when every disease shakes them off and lays them in the dust. How miserable is the condition of the glory of this world which hardly holds out a life, but often dies before us, ravished away by a frown or forfeited by a fault. Or if it do last as long as its owners, with the staff of office cracked and thrown into the grave, is there buried with the corpse.-King.

LOOK ALOFT.

THE following lines were suggested by an incident which occurred on board a ship. A child, five or six years of age, by his sprightly and fearless disposition had become the universal favourite among the crew. At a time when she lay becalmed, in one of his venturesome moods, he had climbed to the utmost height of a tall mast, unobserved by any one on board, till the moment he was almost on the point of falling, when he was discovered, at this dizzy height, by his father, who cried out, with a loud voice, "Look aloft," which direction saved his life; for had he looked down, his fears would have caused him to fall.

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY.

ONE of the greatest anatomical discoveries of modern times, is that which assigns the different functions of sensation and motion to nerves enveloped in the same sheath, but proceeding from different roots, and conjoined after their origin. An extensive practical application of this principle is beset with various difficulties; but reflection will show its great importance. If in a nervous affection a nerve be cut after the conjunction of the roots, sensation and motion would alike be destroyed, but if it be possible to operate on the root of the nerve of sensation only, the patient might be cured.

[graphic]

From a sketch taken recently on the spot.
CROSBY HALL.

CROSBY HALL is a remarkably fine and even magnificent specimen of our old civic palaces. It occupies the northern and western parts of the quadrangle, called Crosby Square, on the east side of Bishopsgate Street. The chief apartment is the great banqueting chamber, of which the above is a representation, measuring fifty-five feet in length, while it is more than twenty-seven broad, and its height is forty feet. Its chief ornament is its noble roof of oak or chestnut, elliptical in form, and divided with quadrangular compartments, with pendants. This apartment is considered a work of great skill and beauty, and it still remains nearly perfect. The hall is lighted by twelve lofty windows. It has an immense chimney in the northern wall; an exceedingly rare provision in such old buildings, as the fire was usually kindled in the centre of the room, and was allowed to escape through an opening in the roof. Crosby hall is the only consiJUNE, 1841.

derable relic of the domestic architecture of the fifteenth century, now remaining in the metropolis. It has been used for many purposes: not long ago, it was used as a packer's warehouse; it has lately been cleared, and put into a better state.

OLD HUMPHREY ON FOREST TREES.

WHATEVER be the season of the year, the state of the weather, or the hour of the day or night, so long as the trees of the field are visible, they are always beautiful. He who can see no loveliness in the vegetable world, unless the sun is lighting up the sky, has not that sunshine in his soul which clothes creation with beauty and glory, and moves the heart to thankfulness and praise.

But think not that I am casting blame on those whose emotions are not so lively as my own. No, no! if there be a bowed-down brother or a depressed sister among my fellow pilgrims to a better world, whose eye shall fall on these

R

remarks, to such a one would I say, "Deem me not high minded, or ungentle." Rather would I hang my harp on the willows, than wound a fellow being with an ill-timed note of exultation. While moved to thank God for the unmerited mercy of a buoyant spirit, I would not willingly afflict any one beneath the canopy of the skies. How bounteous in the Giver of every good! How beautiful has he made the dwelling place of man! Every sunbeam and cloud, every tree and shrub, every herb and flower, is a proof of his abundant goodness. But come, let me speak of the trees of the field.

We have all admired the oak, standing, like a forest king, in the glory of his strength and beauty, with his feet struck deep in the ground, and his arms spread wide in the air. He only, who made the world out of nothing, could make an oak out of an acorn! Goodly is the tree in the vast bulk of its stem, the spread of its branches, and the golden glory of its autumnal foliage. You have seen the tree, no doubt, in every degree of its growth, from the sapling, that the weight of the smallest bird would bend almost to the ground, to the forest tree, that shrinks not at the approach of the whirlwind. I love to look at the oak, and to read it-ay! to read it; for it is a volume that treats eloquently of ships, of shipwrecks, and of all the wonders of the unfathomable deep.

great height into noble branches. The slender gracefulness of its airy foliage, and the seed bunches that hung upon it, called forth my boyish wonder and delight, but there was something beyond these that bound me to that goodly tree. So smooth and slippery was its stem, and so free from branches for the first twenty or thirty feet from the ground, that none of my schoolfellows could contrive to climb it; I alone could accomplish the difficult and daring achievement. This served to knit me to the tree; but it made me proud, and pride deserved a fall. I had one day climbed the tree, and crawled, in my highmindedness, along a high branch, that struck out almost horizontally from the trunk, when the fearful void between me and the distant ground excited fear, and somewhat affected me with giddiness. Willingly would I have given all my reputation as a climber, to have set my foot once more on the solid ground. It was an awful situation; and that I escaped destruction, was only of His goodness whose loving kindness is great, and whose mercy endureth for ever.

The elm is yet more beautiful than the ash or the oak: it towers up loftily above them; it presents a more goodly variety to the eye, and its fresh green foliage, redundant and massive as it is, feathers off delightfully into the finest sprays. What goodly, what glorious elms have I gazed on! not only when the sun has flung his rays on their leaves glittering with the recent shower, but when the moonbeam has broken through the interstices of their dark branches with silvery brightness.

Every truant schoolboy knows the elm, for there the crow builds her nest, and rooks congregate with noisy clamour. Sorry should I be to see the country scenes that I love, oakless and ashless; but rather would I see this, than consent to the removal of the elms. Often have I stood at the foot of a giant elm, that I might not see, merely, but feel myself to be a pigmy!

Here might I talk of the oak of Boscobel, among whose branches royalty sought protection, or of the yet more goodly oak of Damery, in Dorsetshire, more than three-score feet in girth; or of the "Oaks of Bashan," of olden time; but we have other trees to speak of, and must therefore hurry onwards. I gaze on the oak with pleasure, when it flourishes in its prime, and I regard it with a yet deeper interest, when it has been rifted by the bolt of heaven. There it stands, like a paralytic giant, smitten for waging war with heaven; howling out, as it were, the words, Who hath resisted the arm of the Holy One? "Who The beech, though neither so majestic hath hardened himself against him, and as the oak, so elegant as the ash, nor so hath prospered ?" Job ix. 4. There is lofty and varied in shape as the elm, is fearfulness in its ruin, majesty in its very yet a fine tree to the eye, and when rehelplessness, and sublimity in the mag-garded in respect to its usefulness, cannitude of its desolation.

In the days of my youth, stood a goodly ash, in the village where I went to school. It had a noble stem, that forked off at a

not but be highly prized. The very name of the tree takes me back to my boyhood. In a gloomy lane, near a deserted mansion, known by the name of

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