Yet the Sabbath is prodigal of manna if sought rightly. What 66 a splendour among shadows" was it to this hardworking shoemaker of Roxburghshire-"I went to church, at two miles distant, in whatever garb I might happen to get invested. I also discovered where one of the first Sabbath evening schools was taken up in a neigbouring parish, and made some juvenile acquaintance there, a remnant of which is lasting in friendship to this hour. At this school I acquired, through the summer, a considerable quantity of Bible education, which still remains, like a bright sun spot, reflecting the holy feelings of youth on the rusted surface of the memory of years. "I may here take the opportunity of declaring that the richest portion of my life's enjoyment, not excepting even the ardent and tender loves of youth and early manhood, was my Scripture readings of these years. I delighted then to dwell on the portions that I had formerly read to my mother, or such as I thought would have delighted her, supposing that her spirit might be still overlooking me. I had hardly then seen other books, nor knew that many others existed. "The historical part of the Bible seemed of too great a weight for my mind, I could make nothing of it above plain relation of incidents. But the poetry, the wise sayings, and the splendour of the whole, particularly of the book of Job, the descriptions of Isaiah, the wailings of Jeremiah, the wisdom of the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the music of the Psalms, the convincing power of the word and doctrine of the Redeemer, his incomparable parables, the eloquence of Paul, with the other apostles, and over all the sublimity of the Revelations, raised my young heart into a frame of admiration and mental enjoyment, so far above all earthly concernments, that in the fervour of these devotions of sentiment, on a sunny Sabbath morning, I could have conceived myself as a feather in an angel's wing, journeying, like Shakspeare's poet's eye, 'from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.'" Such a Sabbath-morning must be ever sunny-the haze of autumn, and the deeper gloom of winter lie far below the light that beautifies its mountains, bringing good tidings and publishing peace and salvation from the King of Zion. Losing our Sundays, we lose one of our dearest characteristics. England is a land of Sabbaths, and we cannot-we will not-dissociate from it the loved "sound of the church-going bell." Lord of the worlds above, How pleasant and how fair My heart aspires With warm desires To see my God! A. ΜΑΝΝΑ. WE have a class of Biblical critics who render themselves exceedingly ridiculous by their excessive solicitude in taking care of God's word. The Bible, untouched and untampered with, will ever retain its majestic and invulnerable character; but apologists and timid commentators often do much towards throwing a suspicion over what is as transparent as the light of heaven. Miracles, they would have us believe in their timidity, are no miracles at all, but are perfectly natural occurrences, lest we should hesitate in receiving the statements concerning them. But this is a most unworthy way of mastering a difficulty, inasmuch as it supposes that the great Maker of heaven and earth is incapable of deviating from his accustomed modes or forms of operation. We give below a paragraph describing what is absurdly called "A fall of manna," in illustration of these remarks, simply premising that the manna described by Moses was neither a lichen nor a fungus-that it did not fall in Armenia or anywhere near it—that the supply was excessive and continuous for forty years—that it was a small grain, white, round, like hoar frost, and the size of coriander seed-that it melted when the sun was up, instead of lying in the same place for several days-and that, in fact, all the circumstances connected with its supply were so clearly miraculous, that nothing analagous to it, in kind or the circumstances of its distribution, is to be looked for in the present day. We shall next hear a shower of frogs or a flight of lady-birds described as 66 a fall of manna." "The following letter appears in the Gardeners' Chronicle, and is dated Erzeroom, July 2, 1849:-"Two months ago a report was current in Erzeroom that a miraculous fall of an edible substance had occurred near Byazid; but as the simplest facts are often greatly distorted and exaggerated in this country, and the most unblushing falsehoods circulated, in connexion with anything of unusual occurrence, the European residents here were not inclined to listen credulously to the accounts of this 'wonderful fall of bread from heaven.' The report, however, instead of being soon forgotten, gained daily more ground, specimens of the substance were brought hither, and travellers from Byazid bore testimony to the fact of several showers of these lichens having taking place. Finding that there was some foundation for this phenomenon, I thought that the matter was deserving of investigation, and that you would be interested in knowing it. I therefore applied to Dr. Heinig, the sanitary physician at Byazid (the only European residing there), to furnish me with information, which I elicited by means of a series of questions. It is the result of these inquiries which I now have the pleasure of submitting to your notice. About the 18th or 20th of April last, at a period when there had been, for a whole fortnight, very rainy weather, with strong winds from the S.E. and E.S.E., the attention of the shepherds and villagers frequenting the country near Byazid was attracted by the sudden appearance, in several localities, of a species of lichen scattered in considerable quantities over certain tracts, measuring from five to ten miles each in circumference. Dr. Heinig describes two of these spots as follows:-One is situated three miles east of Byazid, behind a range of rocky mountains stretching from the north gradually towards the south east. The other is five miles to the south of Byazid, near a similar range of rocks, running in the above-named direction. It is remarkable that no one had ever before observed these lichens in the neighbourhood, not even the shepherds, who often pasture their flocks on the crags and in almost inaccessible places; and Dr. Heinig, who has been on Mount Ararat (which is close to Byazid), and who appears to have a taste for rambling over mountains, says he has never met with any. What seems to confirm the assertion that these products were not known previous to their unaccountable ap pearance is, that last year the crops were greatly injured by locusts, and a famine threatened; and had the substance been known to exist anywhere in the vicinity, it would most assuredly have been eagerly sought after and collected last autumn, when the price of wheat had risen to more than double its usual value. A similar phenomenon is said to have occurred at Byazid some years ago, when it is probable that the edible qualities of these lichens became known to the natives; unless showers took place previous to that period, which I have not been able to ascertain. Supposing the lichens to have been blown off some adjoining inaccessible places, and in such great quantities, too, how is the rarity of the occurrence accounted for? and how is it that they covered such large tracts of country? No proof has been adduced of any one having seen the fungi fall; but as the first intelligence was brought by villagers, who, early one morning, had observed the lichens strewed over a tract of ground where they had not observed any on the evening before, it is probable that the showers must have taken place during the night. In some localities, the one or the other kind of lichen alone was found; in others, the two species mixed. On the 19th of June, another quantity of lichen was discovered, and as the spot was a wellfrequented one, it seems likely that the fall had occurred only a few days previously. From all accounts, the quantities collected have been very great. Dr. Heinig says that a person could collect at the rate of 1lb. in an hour, which, considering the lightness of the product, is a tolerable quantity. The substance is ground up with wheat and made into bread, or eaten simply in its raw natural state." WHAT A YOUNG MAN MAY DO. You may gain a good reputation, or you may by the commission of one sin, ruin your reputation for ever, and fix an indelible stain upon your character, that no tears can wash away, and no repentance remove, but which may be seen and known of all men until the tomb receives you from their sight. You may be the possessor of a sound intellect, a cultivated mind, and a clear and tender conscience, or you may so pervert your intellect, so sensualize you mind, and so securely and fatally enslave your conscience, that it will be dead to every right feeling, and by these means you may so thoroughly alienate your heart from God that you will never find any delight in him or in his service. You may be the happy recipient of the unspeakable blessings and privileges of the salvation which is in Christ, securing to yourself "the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come," or you may so neglect and trifle with the things which make for your everlasting peace, that they will be for ever hidden from your eyes, and thus go on with your Creator's curse upon you here, with the certainty, hereafter, of experiencing most fearfully the full manifestation of that curse in all its force and terror. you, You may become the joy and hope of your parents, an ornament to the church of Christ, an example to all around and may be the means of rescuing many from the error of their ways, till at last you receive as your reward, the commendation of your Divine Master "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Or, you may bring down your parents' grey hairs with sorrow to the grave,—that father, who for years has watched over you, with a solicitude, and an affection which a parent alone can feel, noticing every token for good, and every symptom of evil with intense interest, ever ready to applaud and cherish the one, to subdue and check the other, and daily bearing you on his heart to God, that the object of his hope and love might share with him an eternal mansion in heaven:-that mother too, who from the first moment you were born could never love you enough, or do enough for you; think of her unwearied attention, her wakeful nights, her unremitting care to supply your every want, to relieve your pain through the helpless years of infancy, and whose heart, ever alive to your soul's best interests, never allowed day or night to pass, without commending you to God, with all the fervency of a mother's love. Although you can never love them as they have loved you, it is in your power to repay all their anxiety and care by doing well, and it is all they ask. Rejoice their hearts then by a cheerful, steady compliance with their desires, or you may become not only a source of grief and anguish to them, but an occasion of disgrace and suffering to your whole family. |