arms; his wants were provided for, and ultimately his discharge was purchased, verifying the scripture adage, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall be returned to thee after many days."

Man of Feeling.

NIGHT-SCENE-CAMPS OF ISRAEL.

On yonder palmy mount,

Lo! sleeping myriads in the dewy hush
Of night repose: around in squared array,
The camps are set; and in the midst, apart,
The curtained shrine, where mystically dwells
Jehovah's presence! through the soundless air
A cloudy pillar, robed in burning light,
Appears :-concentrated, as one mighty heart,
A million lie, in mutest slumber bound,
Or panting like the ocean, when a dream
Of storm awakes her; heaven and earth are still;
In radiant loveliness the stars pursue

Their pilgrimage, while moonlight's wizard hand
Throws beauty, like a spectre-light, on all.

R. MONTGOMERY.

THE GARDEN.

OUR father did not encourage us in taking care of animals as our amusement, while he promoted our love of fostering to the utmost of his power. I perceive the wisdom of his distinction. In the former case, the passions of the creature provoke in return the worst passions of its master; and its occasional resistance to

his whim and caprice rouses into action the elementary feelings of tyranny. Besides, its condition in the creation comes too near our own to suggest much beyond the usual routine of thought in a child. But in plants there are no passions to combat, there is no victory to be gained, which in proportion to its completeness, inflicts on the conqueror himself the deeper moral wound; they obey implicitly, and show a kind of passive gratitude by faithfully exhibiting in their growth and appearance the smallest exertion of his hands. At the same time, the child soon finds, that however fond he may be of indulging a cruel caprice or curiosity, he must forego it here; they can yield him no homage of cries and groans, by which to feed his feeling of power. But the beauty, tenderness, and delicacy of forms by which they return his labours, win his heart, and call forth his best affections; mean while, every thing concerning them leads him on to the contemplation of an agent besides himself. Between the placing of the root in the ground, and the putting forth of the blossom, he perceives that a hand must be working when his own is idle, and one, without whose working, his own would have been uselessly employed in the very first instance. Day after day he comes to see more and more the subserviency of his operations to those of this hand; and that continual working of providence, which, from its familiarity, escapes our view in looking on ourselves, presents itself here almost palpably at every turn; and God is walking in the garden as in paradise of old. Such was the process, as far as I can

now conceive, of my thoughts; in addition to this, I reaped an inferior, though important advantage. I was led to note times and seasons, and learn the value of opportunity.

But our fondness for the garden, and familiarity with its objects and operations, laid a fund for moral and religious illustration, whence my father dealed out to us with no sparing hand; he followed, indeed, the example of a greater Teacher still, who had bidden us look at the lilies of the field, who figured himself under the vine, and cursed the unbelieving Jerusalem in the barren fig-tree. Such illustrations come at once to the heart; they refer us to scenes of pure and guiltless delight; and we feel a lurking flattery, despite of a melancholy feeling of the frailty of tenure which such types exhibit, at the being compared to flowers, glad that we can in any degree resemble and call to mind these beautiful and innocent tribes of creation. From the laying of the seed in the ground, till it reappear in the pod, a hundred or perhaps ten thousand fold, and come again into our hands to re-commit to earth, what a series of analogies for moral instruction. Birth, infancy, youth, manhood, old age, and death, are thrust upon our reflection by a single plant, in one short summer. The dew, the rain, the duly-attempered heat, remind us of our blessings; and the blight, the frost, the shears, warn us to prepare equally against sudden visitations. Every flower, too, from some peculiar characteristic, enforces its peculiar moral. The lowly, yet fragrant violet-the tall, flaunting, but

ill-odoured poppy-the ubiquity of the hardy daisythe snow-drop timidly opening the year-the foxglove glowing with rich purple, and glorying in the scorching heat of midsummer-and the dismal-looking michaelmas daisy, crying out to the rest of its tribe, like the poor prophet of Jerusalem, "Woe! woe! woe! for winter is coming," and struck down at last in its speech by its icy dart: all these convey their appropriate lessons; and my father stored himself well from their treasure house. Thus, in one sense, every tree in the garden was a tree of knowledge, and the thought produced by its moral associations, made it somewhat savour of the fragrance of innocence and wisdom which satisfied its blissful predecessor.

The Rectory of Valehead,

ON THE EFFICACY OF DIVINE TRUTH.

'Tis truth that spares no lust, admits no plea,
But makes man, if at all, completely free;
Sounds forth the signal, as she mounts her car,
Of an eternal, universal war;

Rejects all treaty, penetrates all wiles,

Scorns, with the same indiff'rence, frowns and smiles;
Drives through the realms of sin, where riot reels,
And grinds his crown beneath her burning wheels:
Hence all that is in man, pride, passion, art,
Pow'rs of the mind, and feelings of the heart,
Insensible of truth's almighty charms,

Starts at her first approach, and sounds to arms!
While bigotry, with well dissembled-fears,

His eyes shut fast, his fingers in his ears,
Mighty to parry, and push by God's word
With senseless noise, his argument the sword,
Pretends a zeal for godliness and grace,

And spits abhorrence in the Christian's face.

Cowper.

EDUCATION.

The following eulogy on the blessings and advantages of Education, is extracted from a speech delivered by that eloquent counsellor, CHARLES PHILLIPS.

"I NEED not," said the orator, 66 descant upon the great general advantage, or to this country the peculiarly patriotic purpose, which the success of such a plan must have produced. No doubt you have all personally considered-no doubt you have all personally experienced, that of all the blessings it has pleased Providence to allow us to cultivate, there is not one which breathes a purer fragrance, or bears a more heavenly aspect, than education. It is a companion which no misfortune can depress-no clime destroy-no enemy alienate-no despotism enslave; at home a friend-abroad an introduction; in solitude a solace in society an ornament; it chastens viceit guides virtue-it gives at once a grace and ornament to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave-a reasoning savage! vacillating between the intelligence derived from God, and the degredation of passions participated with brutes; and in the accident of their alternate ascendancy, shuddering at the terrors