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thrown into a heap; nevertheless, we are assured that the bulk of these remains must be very great. Tamerlane, with an army of 800,000 men filled up the harbour of Smyrna, by causing each of his soldiers to throw one stone into it; and when Marius defeated the Cimbri, the bones of the slain were so numerous, that they were used, for a long time, as fences for vineyards. Had these been collected into one heap, and afterwards consolidated by petrifactive matter, they would undoubtedly have occupied a very considerable space. What then, must have been the case, when every man, nay every other terrestrial creature died at once? Taking all these things into consideration, it must surprise us that the collection of fossil bones are not more numerous than we really find them.

Altho' Buffon intimates that the earth is in a perishing state, that the hills will be levelled, and the Ocean at last cover the whole face of the earth, there does not seem the smallest foundation in nature for these imaginations. The earth, no doubt, will remain nearly as it is till it shall please God to destroy it by fire. The mountains have continued what they were from the earliest accounts of time, without any signs of decay. Mount Ætna, besides the waste common to it with other mountains, hath been exhausting itself by throwing out incredible quantities of its own substance; yet it still seems to be what it was called by Pindar 2,200 years ago, the pillar of heaven. It seems extremely probable, therefore, that there are powers in the System of Nature, which tend to preserve, and are capable of counteracting those which tend to destroy, the mountains; and perhaps the late discovery concerning the attraction of mountains may, sometime or other, throw some light on the nature of those powers.

The like may be said of the Isthmuses, or narrow necks of lands which, in some parts of the world join different countries together; such as the isthmus of Darien, of Suez, the Morea, &c. Tho' the Ocean seems to beat on these with great violence, they are never diminished in bulk, nor washed away, as one might suppose they would be. It seems there must be some power in nature by which these narrow necks of land are preserved from the fury of the Ocean; for history does not afford one instance of any neck of land of this kind being broken down by the sea. Just so, it seems impossible to solve the difficulties with regard to the strata and shells by any other means than supposing that there are in the terrestrial matter several distinct powers, by which the strata of any particular kind, are occasionally transformed into others; and that the shells and other marine bodies, were originally deposited upon the surface by the Deluge.

Narrative of Mr. John Bartram's Providential escape from being murdered by an Indian in the woods of Georgia.

[Arminian Magazine.]

In 1773, Mr. Bartram being in the Western Parts of Georgia, and having passed the utmost frontier of the white settlements on that border, one evening met with the following ad

venture:

"It was drawing on towards the close of the day, the skies serene and calm, the air temperately cool, and gentle zephyrs breathing through the fragrant pines; the prospect around enchantingly varied and beautiful; endless green savannas, chequered with coppices of fragrant shrubs, filled the air with the richest perfume. The gaily attired plants which enamalled the green had begun to imbibe the pearly dew of evening; nature seemed silent, and nothing appeared to rufile the happy moments of evening contemplation: when, on a sudden, an Indian appeared crossing the path, at a considerable distance before me. On perceiving that he was armed with a rifle, the first sight of him startled me, and I endeavoured to elude his sight by stopping my pace, and keeping large trees between us ; but he espied me, and turning short about, set spurs to his horse, and came up on full gallop. I never before this was afraid at the sight of an Indian, but at this time, I must own that my spirits were very much agitated; I saw at once that being unarmed, I was in his power; and having now but a few moments to prepare, I resigned myself entirely to the will of the Almighty, trusting to his mercies for my preservation: my mind then became tranquil, and I resolved to meet the dreadful foe with resoJution and cheerful confidence. The intrepid Siminole stopped suddenly, three or four yards before me, and silently viewed me, his countenance angry and fierce, shifting his rifle from shoulder to shoulder, and looking about instantly on all sides. I advanced towards him, and with an air of confidence offered him my hand, hailing him, brother; at this he hastily jerked back his arm, with a look of malice, rage, and disdain, seeming every way discontented; when again looking at me more attentively, he instantly spurred up to me, and with dignity in his look and action, gave me his hand. Possibly the silent language of his soul during the moment of suspense, (for I believe his design was to kill me, when he first came up) was after this manner: "White man, thou art my enemy, and thou and thy brethren may have killed mine; yet it may not be so, and even were that the case, thou art now alone, and in my power. Live; the

Great Spirit forbids me to touch thy life: go to thy brethren, tell them thou sawest an Indian in the forest, who knew how to be humane and compassionate." In fine, we shook hands, and parted in a friendly manner, in the midst of a dreary wilderness; and he informed me of the course and distance to the tradinghouse, where I found he had been extremely ill treated the day before.

"I now set forward again, and after eight or ten miles riding, arrived at the banks of St. Mary's, opposite the stores, and got safe over before dark. The river is here about one hundred yards across, has ten feet water, and, following its course, about sixty miles to the sea, though but about twenty miles by land.— The trading company here received and treated me with great civility. On relating my adventures on the road, particularly the last with the Indian, the chief replied, with a countenance that once bespoke surprise and pleasure, "My friend, consider yourself a fortunate man: that fellow," said he, "is one of the greatest villains on earth, a noted murderer and outlawed by his countrymen. Last evening he was here, we took his gun from him, broke it in pieces, and gave him a severe drubbing: he, however, made his escape, carrying off a new rifle gun, with which he said, going off, he would kill the first white man be met."

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD ASSERTED.

God's care for the pious poor, demonstrated in the following ac

count.

[Extracted from a periodical publication.]

Towards the close of the year 1779, as I am informed by a most respectable intimate friend, whose name need only be mentioned to confirm the veracity of the following tale in the mind of every reader; but who chooses to remain concealed : An old man, near sixty years of age, diminutive and deformed in his person, came hither in his way to W. and requested of me to take him in, and furnish him with employment, as the winter presented him with no other prospect, than to be starved with cold or hunger; and not being full sixty years old, he could not be received in the hospital. Providence enabled me to provide for him, by furnishing him with work in his own profession, I gave him some maps to paint for my pupils: From this person, who remained with me for thirteen months, until death

low, who ran away from his apprenticeship in London, for the sake of plunder and dissipation. This fellow was obliged to be in the fashion. Being one day ordered out upon a skirmishing party, or to attack some fortress, he returned back to his quarters in the evening without hurt. When he was going to bed, pulling the Bible out of his pocket, he observed a hole in it. His curiosity led him to trace the depth of this hole into his Bible; he found a bullet was gone as far as Ecclesiastes xi. 9. He read the verse, "Rejoice, O young Man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." The words were set home upon his heart, by the divine Spirit, so that he became a sound believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and lived in London many years, after the civil wars were over. He used pleasantly to observe to Dr. Evans, Author of the Christian Temper, that the bible was the mean of saving his soul and body too.

DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT OF A MURDERER.

[London Magazine.]

During the persecution of the Protestants by the Roman Catholics in the seventeenth century, some children were playing on the banks of the Suir, near Golden, in the county of Tipperary, when a man came up to them, knowing them to be born of Protestant parents and with a pike, threw most of them into the river, where they were instantly drowned. One of the childern, however, a girl about eleven years of age, ran off and escaped to Clonmell, thirteen miles distant.

At Waterford a ship lay bound to America, taking in servants and passengers: An agent of the Captain's was at Cronmell, who, finding the child unprovided for, took her as an indented servant, with many others in equal indigence. The Captain sold her time to a planter, a single young man. The rectitude of her conduct, her amiable disposition, and comeliness of person, so attracted her master's affections, that after her time was expired, he proposed to marry her; which proposal she, at length acceded to, and they lived together in much happiness for several years, during which she brought him six children. She then declined in health and spirits; a deep melancholy overspread her mind, so as greatly to distress her husband. He observed her, particularly when she thought him asleep, to sigh deeply, as if something very weighty lay upon her spirits. Af

ter much intreaty and affectionate attention, she related to hi what she saw when she was a girl in Ireland, and said that scar a day or night had passed for the last twelve months, but she ha felt a pressure on her mind, and had, as it were, heard disting ly a voice, saying, "Thou must go to Ireland, and bring th murderer of the children to justice." This, at times, she b lieved to be a divine intimation, yet on reasoning about it, sh thought the effecting of it by her to be impossible, and conse quently that the apprehension of its being required by God mus be a delusion. Thus she was tossed to and fro in her mind, un certain how to determine, and her agitation was such, that was apprehended her dissolution was near at hand. Her hus band strongly encouraged her to fulfil, what he had no doubt wa a divine injunction; and as the Governor's brother was Lor H Lieutenant of Ireland, he thought it a suitable season then. waited upon the Governor, who obliged him with letters o recommendation to his brother and such gentlemen as would enable her to bring this man to justice; whose name she did not know, but whose person was indelibly stamped on her mem ory. Her kind husband prepared every accommodation for the voyage, encouraging her by his sympathizing tenderness, so that in a few weeks she recovered her former health and spirits. and embarked with suitable attendants on board a vessel for Dublin.

On her arrival, she waited upon the Viceroy at the castle. and delivered her letters. He entered warmly into the matter, as worthy of public concern; yet he thought great secresy and prudence requisite to effect the desired purpose. The Viceroy, as a wise man, sent for the Judges,, just then appointed for the Munster circuit, and shewed them the letters she had brought from his brother, and requested they would interest themselves in this business. The Judges treated her with great respect, and assured her of their vigorous assistance to bring the murderer to justice; but as she did not know the man's name, nor where he now dwelt, if living, they saw much difficulty in the matter: However, she was desired not to communicate with any one but the Viceroy and themselves; and as the assizes for the county of Tipperary were very numerously attended, they would take care she should be placed in such a convenient part of the court-house every day at Clonmell, that, if he should be there, she could not but have an opportunity of seeing him.The day after her arrival there, and during the first of their sitting, she was placed by the direction of the Judges to the Sheriff, in a commodious place for her purpose. With anxious solicitude she watched for the person. At length a Jury was returned to try a cause. On their names being called over to be

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