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that are past feeling;" fourthly, the wounded conscience, frightened with sin; the fifth is a quiet and clear conscience, purified in Christ Jesus. A wounded conscience is rather painful than sinful,-an affliction, no offence, and is the ready way, at the next remove, to be turned into a quiet conscience.

THE SOLITARY HOUR.

In a sermon on the words, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you," Tholuck says, "Seek the still hour every day. Why fleest thou from solitude? Why dost thou shun the lonely hour? Why passeth thy life away like the feast of a drunkard? Why is it that too many of you cometh not, through the whole course of the week, a single hour for self-meditation ? You go through life like dreaming men. Ever among mankind, and never with yourselves. So it was not with our forefathers; they had every one a set period which was consecrated to his God. You have torn down the cloister; but why have you not erected it within your hearts ?" In another discourse he remarks:-"The first instance of a want of truth toward ourselves and toward God, is seen in this, that we purposely forbear to examine ourselves in the presence of our Maker, -that we do not seek the solitary hour."

SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.

A mouse that had lived all his life in a chest, says the fable, chanced one day to creep up to the edge, and peeping out, exclaimed with wonder, "I did not think the world was so large." The first step to knowledge is, to know that we are ignorant. It is a great point to know our place; for want of this, a man in private life, instead of attending to the affairs of his "chest," is ever peeping out, and then he becomes a philosopher! He must then know everything, and presumptuously pry into the deep and secret counsels of God; not considering that man is finite, he has no faculties to comprehend and judge of the great scheme of things. We can form no other knowledge of spiritual things, except what God has taught us in His word, and where He stops, we must stop.-Cecil.

POLITICAL APOSTATES.

He who has been once the advocate of freedom and of reform, will find it much easier to change his conduct than his principles-to worship the golden image than to believe in the divinity of the idol.—Robert Hall.

INDEPENDENCE.

It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants.Cobbett.

CORRESPONDENCE.

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Dean Swift, alluding in a letter to the frequent instances of a broken correspondence after a long absence, gives the following natural account of the causes: At first one omits writing for a little while; and then one stays a little while longer to consider of excuses-and at last it grows desperate, and one does not write at all. In this manner I have served others, and have been served myself."

BENEVOLENCE.

There cannot be a more glorious object in creation, than a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to his creatures.-Fielding.

FAITH AND HOPE.

Faith and Hope are two sisters: they bear a resemblance to each other, yet differ thus-Faith looks at the certainty of the promise; Hope at the excellency of the promise. Hope reads over the terms of the promise; Faith looks at the seal of the promise. Faith believes; Hope waits. Faith shows the Christian the land of promise; Hope sails thither with patience. Faith strengthens home and Hope comforts faith. Faith is the cable; and Hope the anchor; and both these help to keep the soul steady, that it doth not dash upon rocks or sink upon quicksands.-Puritan Gems.

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THE LIGHT OF GOD'S COUNTENANCE.

As the sun ariseth over the hills in the morning to irradiate with light, and to warm and enliven with fertilising force all that which it illuminates, to scatter miasma, to flush with added charm and beauty the face of

Nature, and to pour into hearts and homes new gladness; so shall God in his glory arise upon his people; the light of his character shall animate their hopes and irradiate their hearts, and peace and gladness shall be diffused through their life, when they meet him in their affections, when they turn to him in love! The promise expresses with great vividness and force a fact of joyful Christian experience. It intimates an attainment which all who are really God's children must desire, which many of them have doubtless made. How blessed for all to seek and make it, to take away every hindrance of sin, to turn the soul fully towards God its Maker, to feel the quickening sense of his favour, to read his Word with the glory upon it, to walk in the serene and perfect effulgence of his heavenly light! How blessed for this life, and how clearly and inspiringly prophetic of the future!

THE HEART'S SONG.

In the silent midnight watches,
List-thy bosom door!

How it knocketh,-knocketh—1

Knocketh-evermore!

-KNOCKETH

Say not 'tis thy pulse's beating;

"Tis thy heart of sin :

'Tis thy Saviour knocks, and crieth
Rise-and let me in!

Death comes down with reckless footstep

To the hall and hut,

Think you death will stand a knocking
Where the door is shut?

Jesus waiteth,-waiteth-WAITETH;
But thy door is fast!

Griev'd, away the Saviour goeth:

Death breaks in at last.

Then 'tis thine to stand-entreating

Christ to let thee in:

At the gate of Heaven beating,

Wailing for thy sin.

Nay, alas! thou foolish virgin,

Hast thou then forgot?

Jesus wanteth long to know thee,

Now he knows thee not!

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HIMPERS

THE Great Wall of China ranks next to the Great Pyramids of Egypt among the Wonders of the World, being as remarkable for extent, as the latter for solidity and size. Father Gerbillon, a Catholic Missionary, who travelled along the chief part of it, says, "It is indeed one of the most surprising and extraordinary works in the world; yet it cannot be denied that those travellers who have mentioned it have overmagnified it, imagining, no doubt, that it was in its whole extent the same as they saw in the parts nearest Pekin, or at certain of the most important passes, where it is indeed very strong and well built, as also very high and thick." He states that from the Eastern Ocean to the frontiers of Chan-si, or for the distance of 200 leagues, it is generally built of stone and brick, with strong square towers suffici

ently near for mutua defence, and having besides at every important pass a formidable and well-built fortress. In many places in this part the wall is double and even triple. But toward the western extremity, it is nothing but a terrace of earth. In many places it is carried over the tops of the highest and most rugged rocks, as may be seen by the above illustration. Our missionary-traveller wonders how stones and bricks could be carried to such places, or how the Chinese could construct vast forts on spots where the boldest European architects would not attempt to raise the smallest building. It is made of two walls of brick and masonry, not above a foot and a half in thickness, and generally many feet apart: the interval between them is filled up with earth, making the whole appear as solid masonry. For six or seven feet from the ground these encasing walls are built of large square stones: the rest is of brick, paved on the top with flag-stones. The mortar used is of excellent quality. The wall itself averages about twenty feet in height, but the towers, which are distributed along it, are seldom less than forty feet high. At their base these towers are about fifteen feet square, but they gradually diminish as they ascend. Both walls and towers have battlements. There are stairs of brick and stone, as well as inclined-planes, to ascend to the platform on the top of the wall, along which six horsemen may ride abreast. Near all the gates may be found towns or large villages; indeed, near one of the gates which opens on the road towards India, there is a large and populous city, where two Catholic missionaries stayed thirty days. They state that "the esplanade on the top of the wall is much frequented by the citizens of Sining-fu, both for the enjoyment of the air, which blows most wholesomely and pleasantly from the adjacent deserts, and for the performance of sundry games and exercises for the easing and recreating of the mind; for the walls are of that height that they readily invite the inhabitants unto them by the prospect they afford, and which is on every side most clear and open, and withal exceeding pleasant: and the stairs that give ascent unto the walls are broad and convenient." They give the length of

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