of the Apostle Paul, thought of sin and trembled. The prison doors flew open, and the rough irons fell from the Apostles, and the jailer demanded the way of salvation from the prisoners. A belief in Jesus Christ was the means; faith was the condition. A manifestation of power was the evidence of the working of these godly men, as they called upon the whole world to bow down before the crucified God. Although Jesus had ascended, power was sent to enable the apostles also to heal, and to impart the means of salvation. Oh! brethren, then was the flocking and the gathering unto Him, who was once despised and rejected by men. Then was the conversion of the Gentiles, after the Jews had refused to embrace the divine tenets, and to lay hold of the heavenly precepts, as they fell from the fire-tipped tongues of these arduous and indefatigable servants of the Lord. The courts of judicature had nothing of awe about them; they were prepared to undergo the trial and to brave the storm. The fire-sheet and the stake had lost their torture to these men, who pronounced it gain to die, and be with Christ. The frowns and the threatenings of the world were powerless, as they went on conquering and to conquer, amid the din and the clash of an unhallowed world. The laws that these men inculcated were not written upon tables of stone, but were to be engraven upon the heart. They struck at the very seat of the affections of the soul; there was nothing cold, or dry, or cheerless about them; Oh no! "the Spirit giveth life." The Gospel gave a warmth to the heart, and added a sensibility to the soul. Before its announcement "the letter" was the guide and rule for men's lives; but at, and after its delivery, a new scheme of salvation was offered and wrought out by the Son of the Almighty Father. Then was the spiritual change in the lives and constitution of the fallen. Then were they redeemed of the Lord and reconciled to Jehovah, who embraced, by faith, the religion that Christ introduced to the world. At first conversions were instantaneous, and often miraculous, produced by that extraordinary power with which the apostles propagated Christianity. But when the Gospel was established, these gifts were withdrawn, and the ordinary outpouring of the Spirit was vouchsafed to assist us, to make our calling and election sure, and to abide with us for ever.

The present working of the Spirit is a manifestation of the power of God. Effective though it be, it can be resisted, and grieved, and quenched. But when the full outpouring is received willingly upon the heart, it is then that the effect of the Gospel is evidenced. By our Church infants are baptized, at which time they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, reconciled unto God, and are made the children of grace. But the Spirit doth not desert them; by its influence the Adamite nature is subdued, and they become fit for the kingdom of heaven. See man thus regenerated. The soul is stripped of its natural defilements; the affections are purified; the heart is softened, and the whole body is rendered holy and acceptable unto the Lord. Oh! who can describe the working of God's Holy Spirit? human tongue cannot tell it, but the heart can feel the divine influence. All of you, my brethren, have received the effect. In the time of misfortune, of care and sorrow, there has been the still small voice whispering consolation, when all around you appeared mournful and melancholy. That voice has been

heard in death's chamber, and over the grave, when we have been performing the last duties of the dead. Yes, it has whispered comfort and cheering to those who have departed, and pronounced them blessed in the Lord. It is impossible to describe the effect of the Gospel, caused by the Holy Spirit, upon the heart of man. If we bid you watch the great luminary of day rising and gathering to himself strength as he proceeds, chasing away the hoar frost, or the morning dew; or the moon, as she throws her placid light to assist the late traveller to his distant home; or the stars, as they cast their brilliancy over the grandeur and beauties of creation,- -we shall but shadow forth and ill represent the powerful effect of the Gospel. The affections and love existing between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, are the evident fruits of the Spirit. And who has not felt that sensibility about the soul, which does cause it to rest upon those beloved objects with an ardour and purity which the Spirit alone could ingraft? Who has not dwelt upon the living characters of holy writ, as they told of that divine scheme which contained the development of the great atonement wrought out by Jesus Christ? And whose hearts have not burned within them, as they looked up upon the cross and beheld the mighty God-man suffering for the sins of the world, and then ascending to heaven to prepare mansions for all his faithful followers? Oh! that burning of the heart, that ardour of the soul are manifestations of the Spirit-effects of the gospel of Christ. And if these mighty effects have been felt by you in all their fulness, can ye refuse becoming the humble, though powerful means of extending these benefits to your poorer brethren-to the little children, who, were it not for the institution for which I now plead, would be left in the world without that spiritual knowledge that giveth life to them that have it. We will not further urge or remind you of the effects of the Gospel, but we feel persuaded that he, upon whose heart the Gospel has had the greater effect, will be the most charitable. It is "the Spirit that giveth life;" and the fruits of the Spirit are faith, hope, and charity, but charity is the greatest of these.

The schools for which we have to solicit your support are in connexion with the Established Church. The children are instructed in that system of education, and trained to habits of industry which have proved most beneficial to themselves in whatever station they may be called upon to fulfil. And above all, they are instructed in the knowledge of their religion and the practice of its duties. And can we now, my brethren, enforce too warmly or too zealously the absolute necessity of connecting all education with religion, and that religion only which derives its principles and doctrines from the BIBLE? In these days of evil and thoughtlessness, it is the duty of every individual, who glories in the honoured and revered name of Christian, to assist in imparting that spiritual knowledge that comforts the soul in sorrowing; that cheers the mind in despair; that raises the weak hands, and strengthens the feeble knees. What is there in this life that deserves our protection more than the little children? At all times there is a degree of interest about a child that moves the soul towards it. The most obdurate heart must be softened at the helplessness and the comparative innocence of the little children. There is a sensitiveness that plays, as it were, about the heart as we behold children, and especially

un

those of the poor, to whom the blessings of the Gospel are known. And when we perceive the hearts of these children glowing under the noble impressions that the sacred truths of the Bible leave upon them-when we find their affections purified-their love and obedience to their parents stronger-their veneration to God, their faith in Christ, and their living under the influence of the Spirit, the continual study of their lives, can we refuse to aid them on that way that leadeth unto life? Oh no, we feel confident that there will not be one among us who will depart from this sacred temple without promoting God's glory, by administering spiritual strength to those whose helplessness demands it. The mother may forget her sucking child, and have no compassion upon the fruit of her womb; but let us not suffer these little ones to perish. Children were the objects of our Saviour's love; he took them up in his arms and blessed them; and shall we not also bless them, by providing that instruction which renders them happy in this world, and eternally happy in the world to come? The example that our Saviour left us was glorious; the manifestations of his compassion numerous, which were completed by his atoning for the sins of the whole world. And if he, the Saviour of the world, gained so much for us, and delivered so much in his gospel to our keeping, let us impart, or be the means of imparting, that food that doth nourish the soul through all the temptations and troubles of the world. Oh! what, my brethren, if the parents of these children have become so lost in mind, in tenderness, in affection for their offspring, as to leave them to the chances and changes of these unpropitious times; or what if they be so poor, that they cannot supply that necessary knowledge that giveth immortality and life; or what, which is still more melancholy to contemplate, if the parents, the father and mother of their love, be numbered among those who once were, but now are not! This noble institution will protect them; it will extend its blessings, its mercy, its compassion to those who have none to help— to those who have no kind voice to cheer-no hand to soothe, or wipe away the tear of woe. Oh! my brethren, would to God that we were supplied with power and eloquence that would induce you to give liberally towards these schools. And yet, why need we power or eloquence? these children speak more than the most eloquent tongue can tell, and more powerfully than the proudest orator can boast. They speak to the heart-they speak to the soul, and remind us of those spiritual blessings which we ourselves enjoy. With the inconsiderate and unfeeling they may excite no sympathy or compassion; but when we remind them that these children, simple though they may appear, have that within which never dies-the soul-the soul for which the Saviour died the soul for which Jesus endured so much shame and agony,which the Spirit was sent to animate-to impart health to it in this world, and eternal triumph in the world to come,-surely some little charity must be shown, even by the inconsiderate and unthinking. But from you, who have partaken largely in the blessings of the Gospel, God, not us, now demands the fruits of the Spirit. And we beseech you, as messengers of those good tidings, to give freely from those blessings which have so graciously been vouchsafed to you; but not according to the weakness with which we have advocated the cause, but according to the support which that righteous cause demands.

MISCELLANEOUS.

PHYSICA SACRA.-No. IV.

THE MICE OF THE PHILISTINES.-PART III.

"Then said they, What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. Wherefore, ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice, that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land."-1 Sam. vi. 4, 5.

THE year 1811 cannot be easily forgotten: the splendid comet, which so long graced the heavens, will be remembered by the common observer; whilst the naturalist finds other equally striking memorials in and upon the earth, to impress his mind. The warmth of the season was such, that the wine of that year is still noted as extremely good. In the forests of Bialowiecza, in Poland, many acres of trees were destroyed by the ravages of the chenilles, (Phalœna bombix Pini, and Phalana bombix monacha,) which increased in an extraordinary manner. * In America the convulsions were still more striking than in Europe. "Many things," says Mr. Latrobe,† "conspired to make the year 1811 the annus mirabilis of the West. During the earlier months, the waters of the great rivers overflowed their banks to a vast extent, and the whole country was in many parts covered from bluff to bluff. Unprecedented sickness followed. A countless multitude of squirrels, obeying some great and universal impulse, which none can know but the Spirit that gave them being, left their reckless and gamboling life, and their ancient places of retreat in the north, and were seen pressing forwards by tens of thousands in a deep and sober phalanx to the south. No obstacles seemed to check this extraordinary and concentrated movement; the word had been given to go forth, and they obeyed it, though multitudes perished in the broad Ohio, which lay in their path. The splendid comet of that year long continued to shed its twilight over the forests, and as the autumn drew to a close, the whole valley of the Mississippi, from the Missouri to the Gulf, was shaken to its centre by continued earthquakes. The earthquakes continued to agitate the west, and the earth was rent at New Madrid not only in 1811, but in 1812." (Latrobe, I. 110.) Carolina was tormented by perpetual shocks, which extended on the 26th of April, 1812, again to the Mississippi, the Caraccas, and Porto-Cabello, where the earth opened, throwing out torrents of water at the instant St. Vincent's commenced its eruption.

• Mémoire descriptif sur le Forêt Impériale de Bialowiecza en Lithuanie: Redigé par le Baron de Brincken; p. 40. Varsovie, 1826.

+ Rambler in North America, Vol. I. p. 102.

The same phenomenon was observed in 1759, when 11,588 squirrels were killed at Providence, in ten days of the month of March.-Silliman's American Journal.

Various also were the convulsions in Europe during the years 1811 and 1812. In 1810, February 16th, Etna was in eruption; on the 12th of October, 1811, Vesuvius erupted; Etna followed on the 25th of October; Vesuvius again broke out from December 31st to the 4th of June, 1812. St. Vincent's, after more than 200 shocks in 1810 and 1811, broke out in 1812 so violently that it was heard in Dominica and St. Kitt's; the former being 900 miles distant. The shocks derived from Etna in 1810 shook Candia, and in 1811 all the Archipelago. In January 1811 the sea at St. Michael's also erupted, producing in June Sabrina island, which was preceded in 1810 and that year by numerous earthquakes. The Isle of Banda had an eruption also in 1811. Vulcano, one of the Lipari islands, also erupted in 1812, the sixth time only since our era; so great was the disturbance just then throughout the globe. At the close of 1812, (during which there were convulsions of the elements of great intensity,) there happened a violent hurricane at Gibraltar, contemporaneous with the frightful snow and frost so memorable as the providential cause of the defeat of Napoleon in Russia. The year 1813 having been thus preceded by convulsions of the earth and atmosphere which were visited upon England and other parts of Europe during that year, the irruption of mice is but one feature in the series of connected events, of which another eruption of Vesuvius from May to December 1813 was a part. It is also on record that 1813 was a very sickly year, and in 1812 the plague carried off more than half the inhabitants of Alexandria; * but as I have before mentioned, I conceive the cholera was now in a state of preparation through the general disturbance in the elements at this period.

Having thus shown, in the instances of the years 1120, 1580, 1660, 1813-1814, 1832, 1833, 1834, that irruptions of mice have been contemporaneous with epidemics and earthquakes, I proceed to a period intermediate between modern times and that of our text; and shall, for this purpose, refer to Pliny, Elian, and Arnobius, who have all alluded to irruptions of mice, bearing in some degree upon our preceding observations; though the circumstances stated by the two former authors are, of course, to be received with full allowance for defective knowledge in natural history, and the effect of superstition. Speaking of the idea the ancients had of the cause of prolificness in mice, Pliny says: "Itaque desinit mirum esse unde vis tanta messes populetur murium agrestium: in quibus illud quoque adhuc latet, quonam modo illa multitudo repentè occidat. Nam nec exanimes reperiuntur, neque extat qui murem hyeme in agro effoderit. †

• Legh's Journey in Egypt.

Plurimi ita ad

The sudden disappearance of the mice is not the least extraordinary part of the phenomenon. There is no doubt that when they have destroyed the crops, they next destroy each other. Speaking of the rat, Buffon says: "C'est par cette raison, qu'il arrive ordinairement, qu'après avoir été infesté de ces animaux pendant un tems, ils semblent disparaître tout-à-coup, et quelquefois pour long-tems." (Nat. Hist. vii. 281.) He tells a story of the "Mulot" also, which proves this. Twelve of this species were enclosed in a vase; they were one day forgotten to be fed for a quarter of an hour after the usual time; one of them was then eaten; the next day another, and in a few days only one was left, and he was mutilated in his feet and tail! (vii. 330.)