to dispose of a definite portion of the Society's funds for the establishment of religion in this diocese. Every year, I hope, will make my course of action more clear and definite, and consequently render my account to the Society more conformable to rule and precedent. In the mean time, I trust that I shall be enabled to follow, not any fancies of my own, but the best models of antiquity, and that I shall be guided by a spirit of dependence upon Divine grace, to which end I desire the prayers of my friends and the Church at home. With my earnest prayer for a blessing upon all your endeavours, I remain, &c. G. A. NEW ZEALAND." (From a Quarterly Paper of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.)

FORETHOUGHT AND AFTERTHOUGHT.

A GREEK TALE.

[The following pretty tale was invented by a Greek philosopher, who knew not, indeed, the true God, but came as near to that knowledge, as man ever came without revelation. His object was to explain how man came to be so defenceless as to his body, compared with the beasts of the field; and how he learnt to build cities, and was fitted for living in society. Pretty as this tale is, how much better is it to know, as we do, that man was created in the image of God; that he lost that image by sin, but that he may have it restored in him by the love of JESUS CHRIST, if he will but obey His will !

The tale was told at Athens, where St. Paul afterwards preached the resurrection from the dead, and a day of judgement in righteousness by Christ. The city of the Athenians was, you know, "wholly given to idolatry;" and its lively and clever inhabitants 'spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing."]

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There was once a time when the gods only existed, and as yet mortal creatures were not. But when the prescribed time for their being formed was come, the gods fashioned them in the bowels of the earth, mingling in due proportions earth and fire, and the existing combinations of these elements. When the time was at hand for their production into the realms of light, FORETHOUGHT and AFTERTHOUGHT were commissioned to furnish and adorn them with suitable powers and faculties, according to their kinds; and AFTERTHOUGHT persuaded his brother to entrust the distribution to him alone; ' and you,' said he, 'shall look over and review my performance.' Having obtained his brother's leave, he applied himself to the task. On some he bestowed strength only without speed; to others the want of strength was made up by swiftness. Some he armed with hoofs; whilst the species that were without this defence, received from him some other provision for their security: if small, they were furnished with wings for flight, or removed from harm in dwellings under ground; if of great size, their size itself was their protection. This principle of making up for disadvantages by advantages ran through the whole; and his object throughout was by this means to guard against the total destruction of any kind. When he had thus sufficiently provided for their security against one another, his next care was to arm them against the seasons; and this he accomplished by clothing them with thick hair or stout hides, which might, not only defend them equally against the cold of winter and the heat of summer, but also serve them at night for a sort of portable and natural bed. Some again he shod with hoofs, and others with a hard and callous skin. He then allotted to each kind its peculiar food, green herbs of the field, the fruit or roots of trees and shrubs. Some kinds were allowed to prey on other animals, but the females of these kinds were to bring forth but

few young ones; whereas the animals on which they were to prey, were endued with great fruitfulness. So far all was well; but AFTERTHOUGHT, who had overrated his judgement in this matter, found, when he came to man, that he had improvidently expended all the qualities and faculties he had received upon the brute creation. The human race was wholly unfurnished, and he knew not what was to be done. And now FORETHOUGHT comes to review his brother's distribution; and he finds all other animals duly and sufficiently provided for, whilst the human race remains utterly naked and defenceless and now, too, the appointed day for man's introduction into the world was at hand! The difficulty was great, and the necessity urgent; so FORETHOUGHT, having secretly entered into the common mansion of MINERVA, the goddess of wisdom and female labours, and VULCAN', the god of fire and of working in metal, where they vied with each other in their respective labours, stole from them ART (and Fire, without which she could not be possessed nor usefully employed), and presented her to man, who obtained by her means whatever things were necessary for the body's defence and sustenance. But POLICY', who dwells with JUPITER, was beyond the reach of FORETHOUGHT; he might not set his foot within the citadel of heaven, the dwelling of JUPITER; and even with this privilege, he must have shrunk from the attempt, for the guards of JUPITER are terrible. Much, however, had already been gained; and as by the theft of FORETHOUGHT man had received a gift that belonged to the nature and condition of the gods, he alone, by reason of this relationship, came to a knowledge of their existence, and applied himself to raise temples and statues to their honour.

1 This name, Vulcan, was corrupted from Tubal-Cain, “the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."-Genesis iv, 22.

2 Wise Government.

Presently, too, he formed for himself articulate words, and arranged them into language; he invented dress, built houses, contrived the necessary articles of furniture, and made the earth supply him with food. So were men originally furnished; but they were dispersed over the earth, without cities to dwell in; and by reason of their weakness fell a prey to wild beasts; for though constructive Art was still sufficient to supply their bodily wants, she could not enable them to combat ferocious animals with success without the assistance of POLICY, on which warfare depends. They did, indeed, after a time build cities, and collect themselves into large bodies for their preservation; but then man injured man, and without POLICY nothing could be done, and presently they were again dispersed as before. So JUPiter, fearing nothing less than the destruction of the whole race, sent down his messenger MERCURIUS, with SHAME and JUSTICE for bonds to hold society together, and ornaments to grace it. He was instructed to distribute these, not to this or that person only, but alike to all, for a partial distribution would fail of its object; and he was moreover empowered to establish it as a law, in the name and authority of JUPITER, that the man who should be incapable of receiving these gifts, should be put to death as a disease in the state.-Plato.

THE SONS OF THE CHURCH.

I.

St. Stephen.

AMONG the first converts, the rich, you know, sold their estates, and threw the purchase-money into a common fund, from which all, rich and poor, were

3 See Acts xiv. 12, where it is told, that the people of Lystra called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

supported. The management of the fund was in the hands of the Apostles; but even then jealousy soon began to mutter its suspicions. The Greeks (that is, the Jewish Christians, who had been brought up in foreign countries, and probably spoke Greek as their native language) fancied that their widows were not fairly treated, but received less for the support of their necessities than the widows of the native Jews. The Apostles, therefore, thought it best to appoint seven officers (of whom several probably were Greeks, as their names indeed seem to prove), to attend to this particular business. They were solemnly ordained to their office by prayer and laying on of hands; and had, as we afterwards find, power to preach and baptize. One of these seven Deacons, as they were called, was Stephen, a man, we are told, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. This St. Stephen preached Christ with such power as well as zeal, that his adversaries were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake. Accordingly they tried to procure his condemnation by a false accusation, supported by false witnesses. Stephen made a bold and full defence before the Jewish Sanhedrim', the Holy Ghost fulfilling the promise of Christ, that He would put into the mouths of His disciples what they should say. He ended this memorable defence by telling them that it was their stiff-necked humour (as it had been that of their ancestors) to resist the Holy Ghost, and persecute the servants of God's Anointed, as their fathers had persecuted and slain the prophets who foretold His coming, and as they had already betrayed and murdered the Holy One of God Himself. His judges, touched to the quick by this stinging reproach, gnashed with their teeth in uncontrollable rage against the Saint; but he, full of holy faith, exclaimed that He saw the heavens opened, and the Son of Man

1 The highest council of the Jews.