of thine Anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts; blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."

4. This allusion is to the migratory flight of the swallow." The swallow knoweth the time of her coming," Jer. viii. 7. In this passage, which has already been repeatedly referred to, the obedience of the meaner creatures to the dictates of their instinctive sagacity, is made to reprove God's professing people for their insensibility to the intimations of his providence, and their disobedience to the orders of his word. There are no other references in scripture to the swallow; but a poet of our own has furnished so exquisitely beautiful an elegy on their flight, that it would be injustice to the reader to withhold from him a few of the stanzas, especially as they suggest to the devout mind an idea yet more sublime and instructive than they expressly convey." Through sacred prescience full well they know The near approach of elemental strife; The blust'ry tempest, and the chilling snow, With every want and scourge of tender life. Thas taught, they meditate a speedy flight;

For this ev'n now they prune their vig'rous wing,
For this consult, advise, prepare, excite,

And prove their strength in many an airy ring.

No sorrow loads their breast, or swells their eye,
To quit their friendly baunts or native home;
Nor fear they, launching on the boundless sky,
In search of future settlements to roam.

They feel a power, an impulse all divine,

That warns them hence; they feel it and obey,

To this direction all their cares resign,

Unknown their destined stage, unmark'd their way.
JAGO.

Who can read these sweet lines, and not be reminded of the power of divine faith, that heavenly instinct of the new born-soul, by which it is enabled fearlessly to launch into an untried eternity? The amiable and pious Watts, in his lyric poems sacred to devotion, has some beautiful lines, which, as they are a suitable counterpart to those just quoted, may be permitted to close this article.

LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY.

It was a brave attempt! advent'rous he,
Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea;
And leaving his dear shore behind,

Trusted his life to the licentious wind.

I see the surging brine, the tempest raves;
He on the pine-plank rides across the waves,
Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves.
He steers the winged boat and shifts the sails,
Conquers the flood, and manages the gales.
Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land,
Fearless, when the great Master gives command.
Death is the storm, she smiles to hear it roar,
And bids the tempest waft her from the shore.
Then with a skilful hand she sweeps the seas,
And manages the raging storm with ease.

Her faith can govern death; she spreads her wings
Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings,

And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things.
As the shores lessen, so her joys arise,

The waves roll gentler and the tempest dies.
Now vast eternity fills all her sight,

She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight,
The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright.

The Sparrow.

These little birds are too universally known to need particular description. They are the most familiar, and even impudent in their approaches to man, of any of the feathered tribes; they are seen at every season of the year, hopping about familiarly close to our dwellings; they appear not at all intimidated by the appearance of passengers, and will suffer themselves to be approached within a very short distance, before they take wing, and then will immediately settle on the ground again within a very short distance. They make their nests chiefly in the roofs of barns or houses. They have a chirping chattering note, by no means agreeable to the ear; but it is said that, in confinement, they are sometimes taught to imitate the notes of other birds that may be near them. However, the sparrow is a bird on no account greatly admired or desired by mankind, and indeed one that is treated with hostility, on account of its bold predatory habits. Farmers, and proprietors of gardens and orchards, devise many methods to scare away these obtrusive

and troublesome visitors, and in some parts of England it is the sole employment of many boys to drive away or shoot them.

These birds were also very common in the land of Israel, and being permitted to the Jews for food, were commonly sold at a very low price.

The word Sparrow occurs but seldom in our translation, but the same original word occurs frequently, and is sometimes translated bird, as Gen. vii. 14. " every bird of every sort ;"-Eccles. xii. 4. where it is given as one symptom of the infirmities of advancing age, that man, "shall rise up at the voice of the bird."-So unsettled shall be his repose, that even the twittering of the sparrow shall disturb it.

The word sometimes translated sparrow is translated bird in that remakable precept which the Jews reckoned the smallest of the law," If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young. But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days," Deut. xxii. 6.-Small as this precept may appear, it is interesting, as it shews the benevolent care of the Creator over all his works,-as it teaches a lesson of humanity, which if early inculcated may influence the character of an individual through life, and

greatly promote the comfort of all connected with him, and as it is calculated to impress on our minds the important sentiment, that we may discover our love and obedience to God in small things as well as great ones; and that he who let go a bird from his hand, purely on account of the command of his Maker, made it appear that he esteemed all God's commandments concerning all things to be right, and that he would rather deny himself than sin against God.

In the Levitical law, where birds are prescribed in sacrifice, the same word is used as is elsewhere translated sparrow, and some commentators suppose that sparrows were the particular birds intended; others have supposed that doves or pigeons were appointed; and others that any clean bird might be offered.

Sometimes the same word is translated fowl, as Psalm viii. 8. "The fowl of the air"; and sometimes sparrow, as Psalm lxxxiv. 3. where the sparrows and swallows, permitted to build their nests in and about the temple, excited the pious envy of the man after God's own heart, when exiled far from the privileges on which his heart was set," Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God," while "my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of my God."-An ardent attachment to the house of God has characterized the pious in all ages; and those who can stay away with indifference from the