nerved with resolution and animated with grace to help you in time of need; so that though, unsupported by this help, the youths would faint and be weary, and the young men would utterly fall, yet you, while you wait upon him, while you seek and rest upon his assistance, shall renew your strength, ye shall run therein, and not be weary, you shall walk and not faint; for this is his peculiar glory, that to him who hath no might he increaseth strength.-Dr. M'All's Sermon to the Young. ANALOGIES. The yellow balsam, or touch-me-not, has a similar irritability. It is manifest in a moment, if the turgid capsules be touched, even before the seeds are matured; for the valves contract with a force truly surprising, and project the seeds to a considerable distance, while in the act of coiling up. Some of the species of cranesbill are, also, equally remarkable. Each of the seeds is inclosed in a vessel furnished with an irritable appendage or tail, which contracts into a spiral by dryness, and lengthens by moisture; when, therefore, the heat of the season has matured the seeds, these appendages contract, like a spring, detach stem. The various changes in the humidity of the atmosphere cause this susceptible membrane to become more or less relaxed; thus the seed is actually locomotive, and continues its wanderings until, in some depression or crevice in the soil, it finds a place and means for vegetation. A DESIRE to trace real or imaginarying the ripened germs from the parent analogies between the different systems of nature, is shown by the students of almost every science, and often it has produced important results. It was the analogy between the functions of animals and vegetables which led Linnæus to consider the sexual system as the most perfect for classification; and which caused the observation of certain facts, intimately connected with the structure of plants, and most valuable for the purposes of artificial arrangement. A few examples of the use of analogy will now be given. It has often been observed that a vegetable, in its general structure, has a considerable resemblance to a living animal. The correspondence of the trunk with the body, of the bark with the epidermis or skin, of the ligneous or woody matter with the flesh, of the tubes and sap vessels, abounding in its internal structure, with the arteries and veins; and of the leaves with the lungs, is easily perceived. Such is the general resemblance, as to organization. On the banks of the Ganges another curious vegetable appears, which is called the moving plant. All its leaves are in perpetual motion, up and down; sometimes equally, and sometimes by jerks, but without any unison between each other. If the motion of them is temporarily suspended, by grasping them in the hand, they quicken it when the hand is removed, as if to make up for lost time, and afterwards resume their original velocity. This movement does not depend on the application of any external stimulus, because it takes place alike by day and night, and requires only a very warm and fine day to be most fully effected; the leaves having then a tremulous motion, in addition to that already described. Such is a phenomenon which has more of the appearance of animal spontaneity than any other movement hitherto observed among vegetables. It is equally certain, that the singular habits of some species of plants remind us of the sensibility attendant on life. The shrinking of one at a slight touch is probably familiar to every reader; and scarcely less so is the singular contrac- To advert to only one more point of tion of the glandular hairs on the leaves resemblance, it may be remarked, that of the various kinds of sun-dew. Venus's during the darkness of night, the numefly trap is, however, the most remark-rous tribes of plants, as well as of aniable: it is furnished with an appendage mals, sink into repose. Even as soon as from which the specific name of the plant the dews of evening begin to fall, a uniis derived; and which is so highly irri-versal change takes place throughout the table, that if it is but touched with the vegetable world. The flower hangs its point of any fine or sharp instrument, or head, as if pensively lamenting the deby any insect alighting upon it, its two parture of the sun, and the leaves appear elliptical lobes, strongly toothed at the to sympathize; those of many species margin, immediately collapse, as if eager folding themselves back on the stalk, or to seize and detain the captive. drooping till the return of day. Other sciences, besides that from which | fainted, and there was no spirit left in these illustrations have been derived, him. He had witnessed the destruchave their analogies. Astronomy is tion of the temple of God, and one capgreatly indebted to one, and, singularly tivity of his people; and in vision he enough, to one that was fanciful and erro- beheld another. He saw the temple reneous. Kepler adopted the false hypo- built, and again destroyed. The Jewish thesis of the ancient philosophers, that people again collected and again scatthe path of a planet must be the most tered, wandering over the earth without simple of all geometrical curves, the a priest, and without a sacrifice, for many circle; yet, in the very effort to establish generations. He looked over the scenes this erroneous position, he discovered the of darkness, change, and tumult which elliptic orbits. He fancifully imagined characterize our own times, and even that a certain analogy existed between beyond them. His eye rested on the the distances of these masses from the kingdom of Christ; and especially on sun, and their respective revolutions that period which shall establish his uniaround his centre. But he discovered, versal reign. He caught an encouraging that though his own analogy was not the glimpse of the glories of a better state of law of nature, yet a real analogy did ex- the world than had ever been previously ist; the squares of the periodic times seen. Yet vast and interesting as all being proportioned to the cubes of the these changes appeared, though he had distances; a fundamental law, of which indeed seen the kingdoms of the earth, no former astronomer or mathematician and the glories of them, he is admonished, had even suspected the existence. Kepler that all these splendid scenes would was led, by his pursuit of harmonies, to finally vanish. An angel reminds him, trace the actual conditions of the pla- that an end would be put to the dispensnetary orbits; and thus he prepared the ations of Providence with respect to naway for Newton's sublime discovery of tions and empires. "Go thou thy way till universal gravitation. the end be," said the heavenly messenger, Dan. xii. 13. A time will come when all the tumults of the earth will be hushed into silence. All that has influenced and excited the attention of man shall appear but as a bubble, caused by the violence of the waves upon the surface of the ocean, which swells and glitters for awhile in the sun-beam, and then breaks and dissolves into the boundless expanse which first gave it birth. Let us learn this important lesson, that here we have no continuing city. All that appears most stable and fixed on earth is subject to the same changes. All is passing away, and all is fleeting: but the spiritual blessings which are treasured up in Jesus Christ, and are connected with the unchangeableness of the Divine Being, these are permanent. The analogy between natural and revealed religion has given birth to the celebrated work of bishop Butler, and to other productions, of various interest. These are worthy of a careful examination. The glorious Creator, who has produced resemblances between plants and animals, between irrational creatures and man, and between the globe we inhabit and other worlds revolving in the immensity of space, has furnished abundant proof, by analogies the most striking and impressive, that the volume of nature and the volume of revelation have one Divine Author. THE PROPHET DANIEL. W. No man was ever allowed to penetrate deeper into futurity than the prophet Daniel, and no man was ever favoured with more circumstantial views of the rise, character, and fall of nations. The future was displayed before him in vast extent and minuteness. He saw the four great monarchies of the earth, the Persian, the Macedonian, the Grecian, and the Roman empires rise, triumph, desolate the earth, and sink into oblivion. He tracked the successive conquerors; and at the miseries brought upon mankind by ambition, he had HOUSE BUILDING. CASTLE BUILDING, (in the air,) however agreeable it may be, is not a rational occupation for the mind; because, in proportion as this ideal architecture is indulged in, will be the feeling of distaste for the realities and duties in which our dearest interests are involved. This sort of employment, however, if it be not always harmless, is, at least, an inexpensive mode of amusement, which cannot be fairly affirmed of operations in solid ma- | son work. "The baseless fabric of a vision" vanishes from the mind's eye of the ideal builder, as if it had never appeared, and "leaves not a wreck behind;" but he who works with stones and mortar finds, perhaps, not only that the ruins of his attempted, but unfinished speculations remain, as memorials of his neglect to count beforehand "the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it," while his acquaintances "begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish," Luke xiv. 28—30, and tradesmen and labourers suffer from his insolvency. I have seen several instances of the building mania, and its unfortunate results. One will be sufficient for the purpose which I have at present in view. a Two years ago, when I was visiting friend in South Wales, we went to see a magnificent mansion in progress of erection. Much of the building was at that time completed; and as we drove up through the demesne, which abounded with lakes and sylvan beauties, I was much astonished at the fine effect produced by the minarets of granite which peered above the trees, and gave me a notion of an eastern palace. As we drove under the porte cochère, the huge pillars of polished marble, which sustained the metallic roof, astonished me by their scale and magnificence. The proprietor, who, but a short time before, had an excellent house on the same site, but of which he did not leave two stones together in the prosecution of his new plans, received us with great politeness, and explained to us the exact nature of his designs, as to future works, which, if executed, would have cost him an enormous sum, immeasurably beyond his means. Even in the unfinished condition in which we then saw the mansion, he had put into the gothic window of a cloistered gallery stained glass of great value; and, as we traversed the passages under groined arches, which conducted to the principal rooms, of which the floors were of inlaid mahogany, every thing indicated great taste and skill, as well as a lavish expenditure. This gentleman was really his own architect; for he had that peculiar turn of mind which led him not only to design correctly, but to judge precisely of the details of work; and, on this account, though he was upwards of sixty years of age, he rose at five o'clock every morn ing, and remained with the work people, in actual superintendence, until night; when he experienced an exhaustion of mind and body which would have been insupportable, if his heart had not been in the business. When we arrived, the dinner bell had rung, else Mr. could not have gone the rounds of his extensive building with us, without being very fidgety at the interruption of his employment; and as it was, he probably took no refreshment on the noon of that day, as he usually did: he would not spare the time necessary for such purpose; nor did he admit ordinary visitors, who would have interfered with his pursuits. Among the vaulted underground apartments, he showed us a very extensive wine cellar, complete in its accommodations; and he intimated his intention, when the treaty of commerce with France should be effected, and the duty on French wines greatly lowered in consequence, to import from Bourdeaux a supply of the best kinds, sufficient to last him for eight or ten years, and to renew his exhausted portion every year or two, in order to keep up a full stock always. “When I begin to grow old," said he, “ I shall find pure and generous claret one of the best restoratives; at present, I am as strong as I have ever been, and am not so particular as I shall be. "You see,' continued he, “that I am a sensible fellow, keeping a sharp look-out for future comfort, and that the bins will hold enough for twenty years, if I choose to fill them all at once." As he spoke these words of presumption and folly, the passage of Scripture occurred to me, "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Luke xii. 19, 20. We passed from the house to the out offices, which he was commencing in a very costly style; and our attention was drawn, by our tasteful architect, to the foundation of a very large riding house (to be entered from the dwelling house by a corridor) in which he intended to take a gallop in future years, when the weather (and perhaps his age) might render it injudicious for him to take out-of-door exercise. The prospective consideration which he was thus again manifesting for his bodily wants in future remote years, and the tenacity with which he appeared to cling to life in imagination, were obvious to every observer of character, and, alas! in this instance too, was exemplified inattention to the warning voice, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" We had now seen every thing except the new gardens, which had been recently inclosed by very high brick walls. The old ones, which had been well stocked, and in good order, had been so situated as to interfere with the new arrangements: the walls, therefore, were taken down; the rich mould was drawn away, part of the space was converted into an ornamental lake, and the remainder into Dutch flower beds on its margin. Four acres of fresh land were allotted, in another quarter of the demesne, for a series of gardens, with many intersecting walls for fruit- trees; and arrangements were made for constructing hothouses and conservatories. Twenty labourers were trenching the soil, and incorporating manure with it, as we entered the new inclosures, preparatory to cropping. The abilities and energy of the proprietor were apparent in every department of his works. He did not limit his care and contrivance to one object of labour, neglecting others: no; he knew that the loss of a single season, in preparing his gardens, would proportionally retard their productiveness; and, resembling great field officers in the capability of making many combinations, and executing them simultaneously, he did not proceed by slow advances; though serious obstructions at this time menaced the derangement of his plans, or still worse, a decided stop to his movements. In fact, he found his pecuniary resources inadequate, and many artists and mechanics threatened to leave him if their arrears of pay were longer withheld; yet he endeavoured to go on as if his money chest was full. I stopped with him for some moments in one of the gardens, observing the planting of some peach and nectarine trees, and asked him how soon they would bear freely. Mr. spoke of six or seven years as a short period in prospect, and said he did not expect to have his wall trees in full productiveness before that time, but thenceforward his own and his friends' tables would be amply supplied. We took our leave much pleased with the taste of the owner, but with a compassionate and sorrowful feeling respecting his apparently ill-founded confidence in the long continuance of his life, already in the yellow leaf, and his expectations of protracted enjoyment; and regretted that the powers of his mind were not better employed, and his persevering temper turned in some praiseworthy direction. Events have subsequently proved the short-sightedness of his views, and the vanity of his hopes. While he was looking forward to rich fruits in his gardens, he himself was like the barren fig tree: he had been long unproductive of any spiritual fruit, and then this cumberer of the ground was cut down. Within twelve months, Mr. was a ruined man: he had not sat down first to count the cost of his mansion, whether he had sufficient to finish it; and afterwards he had not looked into the exact details of his expenditure, and knew not the great extent to which he was involving himself. Angry and peremptory letters were first addressed to him; then writs were issued against his goods and person; and, to escape from the immediate pressure of tremendous liabilities, he absconded to the continent, where, nine months afterwards, he died of vexation and disappointment. His ruling passion had caused his ruin; and, unhappily, when fallen from his high estate, and his castle building, he had not the delightful consciousness, the sustaining assurance, that he was suffering "for righteousness' sake." He had fixed his heart upon worldly objects alone: all the energies of his soul had been engrossed with objects perishable and unsubstantial in their nature, incapable of giving true happiness; and when his foolish hopes had fled regarding the completion of his mansion and its dependencies, he had not that blessed hope which would have raised his thoughts beyond all earthly considerations. He had not, like the "wise master builder," considered that "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11. He had not, when an exile from his mansion upon earth, knowledge of the free invitation to enter into the spiritual house, the habitation in heaven, "whose builder and maker is God," Heb. xi. 10, Jesus Christ being the corner stone. He knew not of the inscription written, "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy 66 its summit ramifying scantily. Some of the more aged examples have a bole four feet in circumference, destitute of thorns, and covered with a smooth white bark, the leaf in this stage of growth assum laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. He felt that he was a stranger upon earth, houseless and friendless, and he was travelling in the dark as to the eternal world. The Sun of righteousness had not appeared to him with his exhilarat-ing the decided character of a caulis, or ing light, that he might chase away all trunk. We observed neither flower nor despairing thoughts from him. No won- fruit in this species. A vegetable column der, then, that his spirits sunk, and that of this description, rising isolated in the he died so soon. He had wasted his time midst of the plain, with a vulture perched and his talents in placing his house, as it motionless on its summit, had much the were, upon the sand:" terrible was the appearance of a highly-wrought zooruin of this unhappy man. phoric. A second many-sided cactus resembles that last described, in the form of its stem or leaf, but has a procumbent and diffused growth, and bears a profusion of flowers with broad and elegant rays of white petals, succeeded by fruit the size and shape of a large orange green when immature, and, when ripe, of a bright crimson colour. Within the rind, (which is dense and leathery,) is contained a red, juicy, and farinaceous pulp, studded with small black seeds. This berry is called by Europeans "the prickly plum." It is produced in great abundance, and its pulp, (which has a cool, sweet, and subacid taste, not unlike that of a raspberry preserved,) is an exceedingly wholesome and delicious food. A third species, resembling Cactus tuna, is the most common in the jungle, where its long and rigid thorns prove very troublesome to the traveller, penetrating his flesh, and resisting extraction by the barbed structure of their points. The species with broad and spinous leaves, (the "prickly pear" of other tropical lands,) we noticed but rarely here, and never with either flower or fruit. His end, in many respects, might point a moral; but we shall only offer an observation or two on the self-delusion with which so many, even in advanced life, when grey hairs ought to suggest wisdom and forethought, eagerly pursue the objects of their ruling passions. Mr. though sixty years of age, acted as if he thought that his life was to last for half a century more; and considered not that the owner of the mansion and the lodger in the cottage know neither the day nor hour when they may be transferred to the general house appointed for all living. How many, like him, speculate on life and happiness, and the continuance of the means of indulging their propensities, in spite of common sense, and signs and warnings which are plain and trumpettongued, except to the victims of delusion themselves! To how many, as "they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded," has this summons been given, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live!" And, alas! how few heed it as they ought to do! Happy are we, if, through the grace of God, we can say, with the apostle, that "if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. 1. M. D. KNOWLEDGE. KNOWLEDGE of the gospel doctrines is the candle without which faith cannot see to do its work.-Gurnall. THE TREE CACTUS. MR. F. D. BENNETT, when visiting THE LAW WRITTEN. THE law prepares the heart by conthe Cape of Good Hope, observes-viction and humiliation; but it is only The more abundant or conspicuous grace that writes the law in it.--Henry. vegetation includes some splendid examples of the cactus family. One of these is peculiarly conspicuous on the plains, rising in an erect and columnar form, to the height of fifteen or twenty feet; its sides deeply fluted, (the angles armed with clusters of black thorns,) and SATAN'S EMPIRE. THE empire exercised by Satan over mankind is to be regarded, not as the power of a prince, but as that of an executioner. Charnock. Tyler & Reed, Printers, Bolt-court, Fleet-street. |