just, even as God blessed the house of Obed-edom because of the ark of the Lord. It is the Palladium of nations. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Jesus Christ is expressly declared to be "the Prince of the Kings of the earth." He claims the recognition of his truth, laws, and institutions, so far as they relate to society, by those combinations of men which are called states; he reigns in his church, and to his Zion it is expressly said, (Isai. lx. 12,) "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve THEE shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." It is the Palladium of the whole world; for in the holy mountain of his Zion he "will make for all nations a feast of fat things." When the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, and all nations flow unto Zion, men shall walk in the light of the Lord, and live in universal amity and peace because filled with heavenly love. War shall be learned no more. It will be a world of truth, and holiness, and love; a world of wisdom, equity, and kindness. The blessings of Christ's reign are as certain as they are great; and when the reign is universal, so also shall be the blessings. The government and peace of Christ are never dissociated; and of the increase of both there shall be no end on earth till his purposes of mercy are fully accomplished, and all is prepared for the new heaven and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Juvenis. Happy is the people that is in such a case: yea, blessed are they whose God is the Lord. But now that we have been talking of Troy and its Palladium, just say something of poor Priam's fair daughter, Cassandra. Senex. It is a curious tale, and I really think was intended to be a fable with a moral, though put together with the usual confusion of elements. If Apollo had any gift of prophecy to bestow, he would have known how Cassandra would receive it. Be that as it may, here is, on the one hand, prophetic foresight, sought, it is said, as a blessing, but followed in anger by the curse, that its declarations should be disbelieved, and the gift itself, which it seems the god could not take away, rendered useless. Heathenism has no consistency about it. Its tales, as such, carry their own confutation with them, as containing elements mutually contradictory and destructive. But something seems to be hidden under the veil. The fearful mischief of these veils, by the way, was this. The great mass of the people stopped at them. The hieroglyphic might have such instruction as the writers were able to bestow; but this, except in few cases, was concealed. The people worshipped the figures, and went without the truth. As to Cassandra, the authors of the fable seem to have meant that men, as men were known to them, only as men, were seldom willing to listen to the admonitions and warnings of superior wisdom and prudence. The thoughtful are the far-seeing. They perceive the actual tendency of events, and mark, though at a distance, the probable issue of proceedings. But men in general, looking only at present appearances, refuse to look any further, and will eat, though there should be death in the pot, and prudence warn them of it. Blinded as to the future by interest, or passion, or the desire of gratification now, they hear no advice as to the then. They see, as the story goes, the wonderful wooden horse, and are mad for its possession: they will even break down their walls for its admission. They think nothing of the possibility of its enclosing armed men. Cassandra's warnings are mere ravings; her voice is unheeded, and Troy is burned. But who can wonder at this? In the Gospel we have none of these "cunningly devised fables." A wisdom truly derived from heaven speaks there. And "doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?" "Whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." Christianity is true prudence, foresight applied to its proper extent. No wonder that they who confine their calculations to this world and this life, though God himself prophesies to them, should experience a blindness which causes them to regard the present alone, when it is only man who warns them. It is a fearful state to be wholly under the dominion of the present. Even human prudence calls us to foresee the evil, and hide ourselves. What is faith but the extension of this principle to things divine and eternal, on the authority of God himself? SENTENCES FOR REFLECTION. THERE is a religious dexterity, by which thou mayest in the midst of worldly business make to thyself paths of innocence, and walk free from the contagion of the world. What art thou the worse if a vain, talkative fellow think thee too reserved? or if he whose foolish levity is his disease call thee dull, because thou vapourest not all thy spirit into froth? Let thy spare time be spent in reading, in meditating, or discoursing. By the first, thou conversest with the dead; by the second, with thyself; by the last, with the living. There is much to be got by humility: he that looked downward saw the stars in the water; but he that looked upward could not see the waters in the stars. Be not too hasty in business, but think again; for second thoughts are best. Noah's dove brought the branch of olive home at her second journey. We call it good humour to use all manner of freedom in our conversation: but have thou a care; for it is very often seen that people interpret that ill which was meant well. Trust not to a bodily devotion, and think not to compensate with it for a good life: if thou dost so, thou art like the sick man that eats up his physician's bill instead of taking the medicines it contains. That which thou art ashamed to do in the sight of men for the turpitude of it, thou shouldest be much more ashamed to do in the sight of the angels, and even of God himself, when thou art alone. Squander not away thy life in pastimes: there is but little need to drive away time, which is ever flying away so swiftly of itself; and when once gone is gone for ever. If thou wouldest secure thyself from the highest degree, thou must watch against the lowest; as he that would prevent an inundation, must have an eye to the smallest breach in his banks. Live not to thyself alone; but have it in mind that we are all members of one body; and it is as natural to help one another, as for the hands to help the feet, and the eyes the hands. There are a world of things necessary to be studied and learned; and therefore thou shouldest discharge thy mind of such things as are unnecessary, to make way for greater matters. If thou art a good man, and deservest well, and yet art ill spoken of, thou oughtest to go on in thy virtuous courses, and not be troubled, and stopped, any more than the bright moon is at the barking of curs. NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE NATURE, FOR APRIL, 1847. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "'Tis sweet to trace the footsteps of the spring "WHEN the winter is very severe, heavy snows fall, and continue in much more southerly places than when the winter is milder. But though the early setting in of those storms may injure the late crops, which are not then gathered in, it must not be thence inferred that they bring nothing but desolation and ruin. The most bitter cup which the bountiful Father of all presents to his creatures, is always sweetened with mercy; and there is no one season, however disagreeable it may be to us, or however destructive to the fruits of our artificial labours, which does not, not only bring an ultimate good along with it, but also an antidote, in part at least, to its own severity during the time. The early winter comes with its chilling frost, which alone would destroy the more tender vegetation; but along with the frost there comes the mantle of snow to be thrown in merciful protection over the suffering earth. It may thus happen, and it certainly often does happen, that a severe winter is followed by a season of extraordinary plenty, both for man and animals. Among others, the birds are often driven far and long from the regions of the north, in order that the feast which nature provides for them there may be more abundant on their return. "In considering the movements of the feathered tribes, we must not lose sight of these circumstances; and must also bear in mind, that while they are driven southwards by the cold, they are invited northwards by the returning heat, which brings a supply of food northward while the southward supply is diminishing. 66 By far the greater number of migrant birds, whether they come to us in summer or in winter, feed chiefly upon animal matters, in great part insects, and small animals. The winter, even with us, cuts off the land-supply of these to a very great extent. Very many of them die off entirely at the end of the season, and exist during the winter only as eggs, which the parent-insects have deposited in the places best adapted for being hatched by the returning season. A vast number of these are deposited on plants; but they are, generally speaking, too diminutive for being seen by birds, or of affording any considerable supply of food, even though they were seen. Others exist in the earth, the waters, and the mud at the bottom of the waters, in the state of larvæ, or, as we call them in common language, grubs or caterpillars. It is for the purpose of feeding upon those larvæ that many waterbirds quit the north in the winter, and resort to the fens, the pools, the streams, and the oozy banks of the estuaries of rivers in this country. Several individuals hide themselves in the mature state in holes and crevices, where they hybernate, or remain inactive, without feeding or motion, during the winter. In short, we can hardly name a situation in which the rudiment or the means of life, in insects or other small animals, is not treasured up during the winter, in order to be ready for the renovating influence of the spring. In severe weather they are all dormant, however, and not to be found by the birds. This is the more complete the higher the latitude, and consequently the colder the winter: and the display of insect life is long in proportion to the duration of the summer. The numbers of insects, independently of other small animals which are in concealment during the winter, is immense. Britain, as compared with other countries, has an under rather than an over supply; and yet the species which have been discovered in the British islands amount to at least ten thousand, of which a full third are beetles; and it is impossible to say how many additional species may be yet discovered. The rapidity with which some of these multiply is beyond all imagination; and were the facts not well authenticated, one would not believe them. Of these insects it is often the very small ones which are most destructive of vegetation; and the destruction is perpetrated, not when they are in the perfect or last stage of their being, but chiefly when they are larvæ, or in the first stage from the egg. There are, no doubt, exceptions to this, but it is the general rule: and the time when the spring-visiting birds are with us is the great time for these larvæ."-Mudie's Spring. The first half of the month.-This portion of April is remarkable for the number of small birds that visit Great Britain from more southern regions, some of which are highly esteemed for |