stand or experience it) where, as the climax or consummation of heavenly bliss, God is represented as "wiping away all tears from their eyes!" Beautiful thought! The weary ones from the pilgrimvalley seated by the calm river of life, bathing their temples-laving their wounds-ungirding their armour;-the dust of battle for ever washed away;-and listening to the proclamation from the inner sanctuary-the soft strain stealing down from the Sabbath-bells of glory-" The days of your mourning are ended!” Christian, has this glorious rest the place in your thoughts it ought to occupy? Are you delighting to have frequent Pisgah-glimpses of this Land of Promise? Are you living as the inheritor and heir of such a blessed immortality, "declaring plainly" that "you seek a better country?" now is, or ought to be, a tent or nomad life. The Christian is an Arab in the present probation state. He has no fixed abode. His dwelling is constructed not of stones or enduring material. The rope, and the canvas, and the wooden pins, all indicate "the pilgrim and stranger on the earth." It is a wilderness rest. He must be content with wilderness provision. If you have many sources of earthly happiness, sit loosely to them. Let these rills draw you only nearer the fountain-head. Let these gifts only unite you closer to the Giver. "He gave them," says Richard Baxter, "to be refreshments in thy journey; and wouldst thou dwell in thy inn, and go no further?" Soon He Himself - your "exceeding joy"-will supersede them. The rill will be no longer needed when you have the fountain-head; the starlight when you have sunlight; creature comforts when you have the Infinite pre- How sad, how strange that the eye of faith sence. "There remaineth a rest!" Listen to this, should be dimmed to these glorious realities by the child of suffering and sorrow! Thou who art beaten fugitive and passing things of sense. Grovellers about now with "a great fight of afflictions," that we are! with all this wealth of glory within thou wilt soon be at home, soon with God, and reach-with these deathless spirits claiming to nothing then, evermore, to break the trance of thy outlive all time-that we should suffer the seen bliss! Every time the sounding line is let down, and the temporal to eclipse the splendours of eterthe response is, “Nearer shore!" Sainted ones in nal day! "Reader, look to thyself, and resolve the that spirit-world, like the birds which greet the question; ask conscience, and suffer it to tell thee earthly voyager as he approaches land, are hover- truly that thou put thine eternal rest before thine ing around thee, telling that thy Home is at hand-eyes as the great business thou hast to do in this that soon thou shalt furl thy sails, and reach the desired haven. "My little bark," says one who has now realised her glowing anticipations, "is riding serenely through the storm, and soon I shall drop my anchor in the still waters of eternal rest and glory." The joys of the Heavenly Rest will be enhanced by contrast. This is one beauteous element in the contemplation of future bliss, which angels know nothing of -the joy of contrast. These Blessed Beings never knew what it was to sin or to suffer. These glorious Vessels, launched on the "summer seas of eternity," never knew what it was to wrestle with the tempest, or, like the shipwrecked apostle, "to be nights and days on the deep" of trial. The blind man exults in the boon of restored sight in a way which others cannot experience who have never known its loss. The sick man appreciates the return of vigorous health in a way which others can know nothing of who have never felt its privation. The labourer enjoys his nightly repose all the more by contrast with the hours of toil which preceded it. The soldier, after years of suffering and privation, appreciates the music of that word home as he never could have done unless he had undergone the terrible discipline of trench, and night-watch, and battle-field. Will it not be the same with the believer in entering on his Rest? Will not his former experience of suffering, and sin, and sorrow, enhance all his new-born joys? It is said of saints, that they will be "equal to the angels." In this respect they will be superior! The angel never knew what it was to have an eye dimmed with tears, or to be covered with the soil of conflict. He never can know the exquisite beauty of that Bible picture (none but the weeping pilgrim of earth can underMrs Winslow's Life. world. Hast thou watched and laboured with all thy might that no man take thy crown?"* Sit no longer cowering in darkness when light is streaming from your Father's windows and inviting you upwards. A few more rolling suns― a few more swings of Time's pendulum-and the world's curfew bell will toll, announcing the Sabbath of eternity has come. Seek rest in Christ now. Flee to the crevices of the Rock of Ages now, if you would nestle for ever in the golden eaves of the eternal temple. Be ever sitting on the edge of your nest, pluming yourself for flight-so that when death comes, "with wings like a dove the celestial plumage of faith, and hope, and love you may soar upwards to the Sabbath of your God, and be at rest FOR EVER! SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY. WHAT DOES "SMALL" MEAN IN NATURE? AN eminent naturalist observes that the telescope teaches us that every world is an atom, and the microscope that every atom is a world. The reader will remember with what eloquence and force the same contrast is employed by Chalmers, in his "Astronomical Discourses," to demonstrate the care and benevolence with which the Almighty watches over the minutest organism in a drop of water, equally with the most magnificent of the. orbs that roll through the amplitude of space. The microscope, by extending to the inquisitive eye of science the domain of animated creation in a direction where it was not previously imagined to have an existence, has dispelled for ever the gloomy misgivings which took possession, even of thoughtful minds, on the revelations of the modern astronomy, and which infidelity shaped into an argument against a superintending and special Providence, by perverting the devout sentiment of the * Baxter. Psalmist, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest❘ him!" In this as in every department of creation, the teachings of science are found in harmony with Divine Revelation. The works of God reflect a clear and steady light upon His Word. The structure and adaptations of every organised being, fossil or recent, bear testimony to the power and the "manifold wisdom" of the Creator. The monad and the mammoth alike witness that the tender mercy of God is over all His works. From regions the most widely separated in space and magnitude, from time extending through the incalculable ages of the history of creation recorded in the rocks, the observer who addresses himself to the study of nature with a reverent and loving spirit, derives the same elevating and assuring lesson. He is conscious of one all-pervading and august Presence and Power, whether he views under the field of the microscope the multitudinous organisms inclosed in a grain of sand; or when the telescope discloses to him new creations amongst the silent stars; or when an annular eclipse attracts the regards and excites the admiration of an assembled people; or when we gaze on such a majestic spectacle as that which filled so many hearts with rapture, and so many eyes with tears, when the memorable comet of 1858 was seen blending its mild lustre with the radiant splendours of Arcturus. In the view of the Infinite Mind, the least and the greatest of created things fulfil | their destined purpose in the plan of the universe; and, as necessary and indispensable parts of the wondrous whole, the Almighty Maker watches with paternal solicitude over all the works of His hands. The creatures made in His own image, and endowed with indestructible faculties of thought and feeling, are His peculiar care. Upon them He has lavished the bounties of His providence and the riches of redeeming grace. "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars: he calleth them all by their names." The "What does small mean in nature?" question was suggested to the mind of a German naturalist while investigating into the inconceivable multitudes of microscopical organic forms entering into the constitution of the chalk formation. This geological system extends over a vast portion of the globe; and modern observation has proved that, probably to the amount of fully one-half, it consists of the remains of animals which were deposited at the bottom of a primeval ocean. Many of the remains are those of shell-fish, seaurchins, zoophytes, and other animals; but by much the largest proportion of the formation is composed of the shells of minute animalculæ, only discernible by the microscope. The mind is overwhelmed by the idea of the myriads of animated atoms which have contributed by their remains to build up masses of chalk, constituting mountain chains in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The purer forms of common white chalk exhibit, under the microscope, an aggregation of shells, corals, and other structures, of which a million individuals are contained in a cubic inch of the substance. A hundred thousand of these minute shells are computed to enter into the constitution of the chalk employed in enamelling an ordinary visiting card. They are chiefly the shells of a group of animals, of extremely simple organisation, named Foraminifera. The body of the animal consists of little else than an atom of thin transparent glair or jelly. It begins life by constructing a shell of one chamber; but in proportion as the size of the body exceeds that of its tiny dwelling, it adds one chamber after another, corresponding to its growing dimensions, till it finally settles in its mature state in the outermost and roomiest cavity of the series. The shell then bears some resemblance to that of the ancient ammonite and modern nautilus. With these animals the foraminifera were long confounded; but the latter belong to the lowest forms of animal life, being closely allied to the infusoria, animalculæ abounding in water containing vegetable infusions; whereas the ammonite and nautilus represent the mollusca, or shell-fish of highest organisation. The nummulite characterising immense beds of calcareous rock in the Alps and Pyrenees, and also the limestone constituting the foundation of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and forming the principal mass of the huge body of the Sphinx, is one of the largest species of the order. It derives its name from its similarity to a coin; and the legend has lingered in Egypt since the time of Strabo, that the nummulites of the pyramids, familiar to all travellers in that country, are the lentils upon which the builders fed while rearing those imperishable edifices, and which, in the progress of time, have been converted into stone. But in general the shells of the foraminifera are of excessive minuteness. The rocks upon which the city of Paris rests are composed almost wholly of these shells, which are packed together as closely as the grains in a heap of turnip-seed; and the houses of the capital are built of the same curious organism. Existing sea-bottoms appear to be covered to unknown depths by recent species of foraminifera. When the officers of the ship Dolphin were sounding the bed of the Atlantic for the electric telegraph, the matter brought up by the lead from a depth of two thousand fathoms in mid-ocean was found to be composed entirely of the shells of these animalculæ, without any admixture of unorganised or merely earthy substances. It was, therefore, reasonably expected that the submerged wire would be coated over with a deposit of the shells of the foraminifera, and thus become permanently protected against danger from friction by oceanic currents within the space of three years. An ounce of sand obtained from the Caribbean Sea was estimated to contain the amazing number of 3,840,000 shells. The German investigation of the organisms of the chalk took an illustration from the blasting of the cliff at Dover for the railway, in 1843. Years of labour were expended in preparing shafts and galleries, and the largest charge of gunpowder ever employed was fired by a powerful galvanic battery. A million of tons of the chalk rock were torn away in a minute, almost silently, and a surface of nearly fifteen acres was covered twenty feet deep with its fragments. "And with what," says the writer, "did the power of the human mind enter into this giant Antarctic circle; and the same observer, on exastruggle? With the remains of creatures, a thou-mining the mud brought up by the lead on soundsand of which might be annihilated by the pressure of a finger! We wonder, and ask ourselves, What does SMALL mean in nature?" The Bergmehl, or mountain-meal of the north of Europe, used in Sweden and other countries as an article of food, was found by Ehrenberg to consist of the shells of minute animals, which had been deposited in water at a remote period, but the exuviæ of which still retained sufficient animal matter to render them nutritive when mixed with flour. Till this discovery was made by the most ingenious of microscopists, the mountain-meal was considered to afford an exception to the universal fact, that the mineral kingdom is incapable, directly, of yielding food for animals. bers of Nature's invisible police," to use the words of Professor Owen, "are everywhere ready to arrest the fugitive organised particles, and turn them back into the ascending stream of life." CHRISTIAN COUNSEL AND TEACHING ing a bank on the flanks of Victoria Land, not less than 400 miles long, and 120 broad, and of a depth which could not be conjectured, ascertained that it was almost entirely composed of the siliceous remains of diatoms. No description can convey an adequate idea of the symmetry and beauty displayed in the forms of these crystalline atoms. The infinitesimally minute striations and sculptures on the surface of many species, task the highest powers of the optician's glass. Like the higher tribes of plants, the diatoms give off oxygen gas, under the influence of the sun's light and heat; the result, doubtless, of the decomposition of carbonic acid gas, which all vegetables abstract from the air. They are thus rendered instruAnother vast group of minute organisms inhabit mental in maintaining the atmosphere in a state the debateable region between the animal and the of purity and salubrity for the respiration of anivegetable kingdom. Zoologists and botanists long mals. A still more important function is perdid battle for possession of this border territory, formed by the lower tribes both of animals and which, being often taken and retaken, may, at plants. Occupying a position on the very verge length, be considered to be finally established as a of organised being, they are employed to prevent province of the kingdom of plants, the inhabitants the tendency of decomposing animal and vegetable being distinguished by the name of the Diatomacea. matter to pass into the gaseous state, and return It was only on the cessation of hostilities, how-to the inorganic world. "These wakeful memever, that their nature, habits, and diversified forms became the subject of systematic study; and, of late years, the microscope has revealed the fact of their existing in earth, water, and air, and even in the tissues of animals and plants, in bewildering profusion. The diatom (or brittle-wort) is a plant consisting of a single cell, yet it represents the fundamental principle of the most complex vegetable structures, and illustrates the uniformity of the plan of organisation in the vegetable kingdom; for the sturdy oak, the patrician palm, and the peerless Wellingtonia of the Californian forest is each an aggregation of cells. Unlike the delicate calcareous shells of the animals previously described, the coverings of these unicellular plants are siliceous and indestructible. It is, indeed, only after their separation from the substances containing them, by exposure to the action of the strongest heat and the fiercest chemical acids, that they are produced in all their crystalline brilliancy and purity, and are fit for being mounted on shells as microscopic objects. The cell multiplies by spontaneous fission or sub-division, a process which proceeds in a geometrical ratio, and often with great rapidity. The progeny of a single individual, on the moderate calculation that each successive act of self-division takes place every twenty-four hours, would amount in a month to one thousand millions! Some species inhabit the sea, others are found only in fresh water. The favourite habitats of many species are the stones of mountain streams and water-falls. Shallow pools, the mouths of rivers, roadside ditches, water-troughs, and cisterns, abound with various species. Ehrenberg (who persists in classifying the diatoms with infusorial animalcula) has found them alike in the oldest and the newest fossiliferous rocks. Darwin witnessed them drifting in clouds from the continent of America to that of Africa, and coming in contact with the sails of the ship in which he was a voyager. Dr Hooker discovered them in myriads in the ice within the CHAPTER I.-INTRODUCTORY. I WRITE the words of simple truth only, when I affirm that I have profound sympathy with young men; I mean, that I do not look at them as a formal teacher, but feel with them as a brother; and, without assuming too much, I believe that I understand their tendencies and peculiar temptations better, perhaps, than they do themselves. I have been young myself; alas! that the past tense must needs, at last, be used! But though the time is past in tense, it is not, I hope, past in feeling; or in the power of living in the full tide of strong and buoyant youthfulness, or rejoicing with those who still move amidst the glories of the early dawn. Years, too, must have failed to bring that experience which, it is said, fools even find, unless they have enabled me to speak now with some of the sober wisdom of true love. God has so ordered the circumstances of my life, that I have known young men belonging to almost every rank of society, in almost every profession, and in different parts of the world. I have been more or less familiarly acquainted, and freely mingled with young sailors on the deck, their own field of fame; with young officers serving kings, emperors, or republics; with young innocents when leaving home for the first time, and young fools when sent back to it, friends weeping on both occasions; with young aspirants after fashion or fame; with lovers of literature and laziness; with students in every shape and form, at home and abroad; with young travellers from the Danube to the Delaware. I have known "fellows" of every kind-"good fellows," "odd fellows," "wild fellows," "reckless fellows," 'bad style of fellows," " gentlemanly fellows," "stupid fellows," "clever fellows," "highbred and low-bred fellows," "thoroughly bad and thoroughly good fellows." And in what various conditions have I not seen young men ! In the glory of their strength, and in the sorrow at its departure; in the bright sunshine, as they thought it to be, of reckless indulgence, and in the darkness and agony, the emptiness and desolation, as they found it to be, of a misspent life, when they knew it was soon to be "all over with them." Have I not seen them weary and heavy-laden amidst all which sin could give, and also in the possession of the nobility and courage, the calmness and peace which genuine Christian principle alone can bestow? I write all this from no silly boasting, for there is really nothing to boast about, were I disposed to feel or express such vanity; but rather to assure any young man who is pleased to read these lines, and to hear what I have got to say to him, that I am not thinking of him like some strange species, about whom information has come to me while living in a lonely cell or secluded glen, but rather standing beside him in life's battle, walking with him in life's journey, and with a most sincere and honest wish to help him by such counsel as I can afford, to fight the battle, and to foot out the journey bravely and well, like a man and like a Christian. Yet I will as unaffectedly acknowledge that it is not without many doubts and misgivings that I assume the solemn responsibility of addressing young men, for I know from experience how unwilling many are to listen to advice who need it nost; and how delicate and difficult a task it is to give any advice wisely, even to those who are most willing to listen to it. When I reflect, too, as I take up my pen, upon the vast variety and shades of character; the various degrees of intellectual culture; the differences in social position and in mental habits; the different moulds of inner and outer life, in which that great class to whom I presume to address myself are cast, I naturally feel more and more perplexed; and, while utterly despairing of being able to help all, I am even doubtful how far, by mere writing, or by what selection of topics, I can help any. On the other hand, as I recall family scenes I have witnessed, and conversations I have had during even a comparatively brief, but yet very busy ministerial life of upwards of twenty years, difficulties and obstacles vanish, voices warn me from the other side, from those to whom I have been called to minister, and who are gone to their account, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." I also feel assured that I may depend upon those generous sympathies in my readers which will induce them to take that kindly which is certainly kindly meant. It seems to me that the young men of this country occupy a position of singular importance in the world. There is, no doubt, an interest attached to them in common with those who, in every country, are passing through the same period of exist ence, having the same temptations to encounter and difficulties to overcome. But, in addition to all this, the young men of Britain are placed by Providence in circumstances which cannot but excite our eager interest in their well-being and welldoing. They are the citizens of the freest, grandest, and most powerful nation upon earth. They possess, as their inheritance, the utmost possible liberty to form and give expression to their opinions upon every subject which can affect human character and conduct. Upon the youth of Britain devolves the responsibility of walking worthy of their country, and of transmitting her great historic past with increased lustre to the future. Nay, more, she has become the mother of nations, and is so closely linked by various chains to other portions of the globe, and to the vast majority of the human race, that her character must materially mould the destinies of mankind. The subjects of our Queen include people of almost every "nation and language" under heaven. "The conquering drum of Britain follows the sun from its rising to its setting." Seven hundred vessels each day enter or depart from our harbours. "On breakers moaning to the gales We spread a thousand thousand sails." The youth of Britain visit every land as sailors or soldiers, as merchants or colonists, or as travellers, to give play to their energies by the excitements of adventure in unknown and untrodden regions. There is, moreover, not a young man but may rise, by his industry or talent, to occupy the highest position at home; or in India become a governor of millions of immortal men and of provinces equal almost in extent to his native island. Young men from our country are rapidly settling in the great southern island-continent, and on the rich plains of North America. With shouldered axe, mattock, and rifle, they are clearing primeval forests; tracking along unknown streams; or opening new mines of gold. By them savage nations are to be brought into the family of civilised men, and new colonies are to receive from them their future character and history. In them, as men of truth, honour, mercy, and goodness, will many a heathen worshipper study the principles and power of Christianity; and by what those are who leave our shores and mingle with other nations may the opinions of thousands be influenced for or against the religion of Jesus. Woe be to the young men who pervert their noble mission to the world by pursuing low and selfish ends; who, instead of making the next generation braver, greater, more self-sacrificing than any which preceded it, so that, with its accumulated advantages from the past, it may advance into the future with increasing worth and increasing usefulness, shall, instead of this, seek for it only increasing wealth and increasing means of mere personal gratification! There is another aspect in which we may view the influence which young men may exercise in this country, and that is in more direct connexion with the Christian Church. To appreciate their importance in this respect, we must not associate the Church with the clergy merely, or with the solemn acts of public worship and instruction; but ever remember that each congregation is designed to be a society united by a common faith in Jesus Christ, and a common hope through His Spirit, and love to Him and to the brethren, yea, to the whole world. The evidence and expression of this are thee! And who can express what a heaven upon earth a life of such honest labours and duties would become to themselves; what new interest to existence a sense of responsibility would give to thousands who seem hardly to know why they were created; who appear to think killing time is the best way of improving it and preparing for eternity; or that succeeding in business is the one thing needful for immortal men; who are wearied and worn out in seeking only to serve themselves; or to whom the excitement of mirth, and the amusement of the passing hour, are not means of refreshment in the midst of labour, but the very labour and end of their lives; and who no more realise their responsibility to Almighty God for the use they make of all they have received than if He had no existence, and there were no right or wrong, no death or judgment, no heaven or hell! A greater blessing could not therefore be conferred upon young men themselves than to make them feel their importance to society, and to induce them accordingly to put forth their strength, and use the portion of their goods on objects worthy of men and of immortal beings. Yes, young men ! you know I am right. Smile at my words, turn them aside by a clever joke or clever sarcasm, but you feel in your souls that there is a force within you, which, if not wasted on wretched trifles, but if manfully and unselfishly used, would make you nobler and happier men, a blessing to others, and consequently blessed in yourselves. Will you bear with me if I thus speak the truth frankly to you? From whom among you may I hope to receive a fair and kind hearing? In next chapter I shall give you my own opinion on this point; in the meantime let us part as friends. If you won't agree with me, you may, nevertheless, especially if you have nothing else or nothing better to do, listen to me. That is all I ask at present. manifested in labours of love by the members for their mutual good, and for the good of all, as God gives them an opportunity. Now, it is only when we realise this grand function of the Christian society, of this brotherhood, this body in Christ, as consecrated by its living Head to be His very representative upon earth, to witness for His character by what it is, and for His unwearied goodwill to men by what it does-it is only then that we see what important members of the body young men are; how their gifts and talents of youth, energy, courage, and enthusiasm, constitute them the very thews and sinews, yea, the very strength of the body-the limbs by which it moves, the hands with which it works, the strength by which it endures and conquers difficulties. There are thus noble works to be done for the good of others which demand all the power, the activity, the manly force which they peculiarly possess. And there is not a rare gift which belongs to them in Providence-whether of rank or wealth, of scholarship or genius, of refined manners or knowledge of the world—which may not be amply employed, and bring back a full and glorious reward, if occupied in what to many seems the very prose of life, but yet what may be converted by the true and good into its finest poetry. "The daily round, the common task of instructing the ignorant, directing the perplexed, helping the meritorious, aiding the poor, visiting the sick-in one word, carrying the burdens of society, by taking a share in those noble works which our Lord has left us to do for the well-being of our brethren and of mankind;-oh, how worthy are such enterprises as these, which interest Heaven itself, to excite the ambition of the highest and best of the youth of our land, and to occupy those energies and talents which so often lie waste or are misdirected and abused. For God has, in His wisdom and in His love, so united man with man, that we are given to one another to benefit one another by self-denying labours, "to consider one another, and provoke to love and good works." But when young men refuse to enlist in this constant war which must be waged by the Church against sin and ignorance, in order to conquer both by the power of goodness and truth; when they look listlessly on, as if they had nothing to do with it, or become slaves in the service of mere money-making, and the constant pursuit of mere selfish excitement and amusement, then the loss is immense to the Church;-not the mere negative loss of no good, but the positive loss of much evil done. Indifference necessarily becomes opposition, for "he who is not for me is against me," saith the Lord. If ever, then, the Church of Christ is to be to the world what our Lord designed her to be-the light to those in darkness, the helper of the fallen, the comforter of the afflicted, the salt to preserve society from corruption, and the living power which is to make the kingdoms of the world the kingdoms of Christ-offended and grieved my parents by my obstinacy then, assuredly, must young men who are "strong with the word of God abiding in them, and who overcome the wicked one," be the very strength and glory of the Church! They cannot be wanted; we must have them. We cannot say to such a portion of the body, We have no need of EASY CONFESSION. A TRUE STORY. ABOUT thirty years ago, during the season of Lent, the evening sermon in one of the churches of Turin lasted so long that it became quite dark in the densely crowded aisles. The solemn and eloquent sermon, which treated of the necessity of repentance, seemed to have produced an extraordinary and powerful effect; for scarcely had the preacher concluded, when, from the midst of the crowd, the voice of a man was heard asking for permission to express briefly what was burdening his conscience. He declared, with an expression of the deepest contrition, that the priestly exhortation had so pierced his heart, that he could not refrain from public confession; and without waiting for the permission he had requested, the unseen penitent continued:-"I confess before God and this congregation, that, as a boy and youth, I have and deception. I have cruelly ill-treated my wife, totally neglected my children, deceived and plundered my clients, and trampled justice under foot. I have indulged in many vices, and injured many persons through my wickedness. I repent heartily of all these evil practices; and to prove the sin |