of the great Head of the Church, from the increased spiritual attention which is about to be paid to this unhappy and neglected class:

"Oatlands, Aug. 1843.

"*** With this epistle you will probably receive a small box of seeds, collected at my request by a person named M- residing at Oatlands. This man, though a prisoner of the Crown, holds an indulgence called a ticket of leave; he had a year since a large nursery garden near Hobart Town, and was doing well, but, unfortunately for him, he bought some glass frames cheap, and afterwards it was discovered that they had been stolen. Though innocent himself, and ignorant of the way in which the property he bought had been obtained, he was sent up to Oatlands for a punishment, and to reside here during pleasure. He has always paid much attention to my advice, both spiritual and temporal; and out of gratitude, or, at any rate, good will, he offered me the box of seeds as a present, although his labour and time would alone render it worth five guineas, which value he placed on it. I gave him some things useful to him, such as would be equivalent for his trouble, and he was thankful, though desirous of giving me the box as a present. I beg the Society's acceptance of this collection of seeds, comprising a full account of one hundred trees of Tasmania, all of which, with ordinary care, will grow in England; some of the gum trees are most graceful and elegant, and I hope they will prove acceptable to the Society, amongst whose members are many, I have no doubt, who would be willing to embellish their grounds and gardens with Tasmanian shrubs and trees. The feeling that induced this poor man to give away his time and trouble was no doubt brought forth and called into active existence by the kindly spirit of the gospel of peace. I had never befriended him save by my public ministra

tions and occasional conversations; but you see from this incident that many prisoners here are ready and willing to receive instruction; many see the error of their youthful sins, and are now willing to lead a new life. This act of good will, emanating from a prisoner in the interior of Tasmania, I thought would not be displeasing to the Society to be informed of; and when one considers that each tree's seed had to be sought for after decadence in the forest, the time and trouble expended can be conceived. The hearts of few unfortunates here are really hardened, not one in a hundred; and they can generally be profitably turned to good paths by kindness and taking an interest in their welfare. Punishment may repress the rebel spirit of crime, but cannot eradicate the inward canker of villany; it may silence, but yet will harden; like the fable of the traveller and his cloak, which the sun and wind contended in divesting him of. So the gentle warmth of good-will and religious instruction, I find, will cause many here to put away their iniquities as a cast-off garment, and live unencumbered in the light of the Church of Christ.

"About four months since, three young men were tried at Oatlands (now an assize town) and condemned to death for absconding as prisoners, and being found with arms-they were mere youths of seventeen, nineteen, and twenty-two years of age respectively. I attended them in Oatlands jail for a fortnight, when a reprieve came up; they became in the interval quite penitent by my constant visits; they were far from being hardened, but their mothers being left widows, these poor lads fell into evil paths. I believe their awful position, and the instruction and advice I gave them, made a lasting impression on their minds, and they may yet turn out useful members of society."

OATLANDS-VALE OF JERICHO.

“*** I have (notwithstanding the adverse circumstances of Oatlands church having been stopped building) kept up a very good congregation, and, I may say, planted a tree that will wax larger and bring forth much fruit. I have some very good singers, and some of the responses they chant, and with my encouragement, a choir has been kept up without any funds. I trust ere long some little helps may be afforded to these well-disposed singers. The number of communicants at Oatlands keeps up, nay, rather increases, and this notwithstanding the objection that exists here to receive the sacrament in the building I make use of (Police-office), where many false oaths are continually taken and punishments inflicted. These objections will be removed when our church is finished; and from ten communicants they will probably increase to thirty or forty. At Jericho my number increases; a Presbyterian family now continually communicates, and the little church there is actually filled. Oh, how goodly is it to have even a little church in the first years of colonizing the Vale of Jericho has been so supported, so comforted, so improved by a holy temple of worship, that it is quite a contrast to the dreadful heathenish state of other villages and settlements here; it would do your heart good to see all the children well dressed, and their parents walking along with them to church; may it continue so to prosper, and the fruits thereof be felt in the next generation!"-From a Quarterly paper of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

THE OVERTHROW OF THE EGYPTIANS AT THE

RED SEA.

On the margin of the flood

With lifted rod the Prophet stood;

And the summoned east-wind blew,
And aside it sternly threw

The feather'd waves, that took their stand,
Like crystal rocks, on either hand,
Or walls of sea-green marble piled
Round some irregular city wild.

Then the light of morning lay
On the wonder-pavéd way,
Where the treasures of the deep
In their caves of coral sleep.
The profound abysses, where
Was never sound from upper air,
Rang with Israel's chanted words,
King of Kings! and Lord of Lords!

Then with bow and banner glancing,
On exulting Egypt came,
With her chosen horsemen prancing,
And her cars on wheels of flame,

In a rich and boastful ring

All around her furious king.

But the Lord from out his cloud,
The Lord look'd down upon the proud;

And the host drave heavily

Down the deep bosom of the sea.

With a quick and sudden swell

Prone the liquid ramparts fell;

Over horse and over car,
Over every man of war,

Over Pharaoh's crown of gold

The loud thundering billows roll'd;
As the level waters spread,

Down they sank, they sank like lead.

Milman.

ADDRESS TO THE PARISHIONERS OF UPPER CLAPTON ON ESTABLISHING A CHURCH FUND.

In the Bishop of London's Charge for 1838 to his Clergy, the following passage occurs:

"The great Church Societies, the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, the Incorporated Societies for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and for Building and Enlarging Churches, the National School Society for the Education of the Poor,-and the Society for Supplying Additional Curates in Populous Places,-all present distinct and unquestionable claims upon the liberality of Churchmen. I mark these Societies more particularly, as being framed in strict accordance with the principles of our Ecclesiastical Polity, and as being under the efficient superintendence of the Bishops of the Church."

The Societies here specially recommended by the Bishop to our support, represent the Church in operation in so many different departments of her High Calling for the Glory of God, and the Salvation of Man, at Home and Abroad.

The chief field of the Church's labour is at Home, and here she is engaged,

(1.) In building Churches, whenever they are wanted, as fast as her means will permit, through the CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY.

(2.) In providing additional Ministers to dispense the Bread of Life to the thousands that need it, in our populous places, through the means of the ADDITIONAL CURATES' SOCIETY: