sence of the Lord as the actual offering of the passover. The first two days, and the last two, are kept as days of high solemnity, being celebrated with great pomp by extraordinary services in the synagogue, and by abstaining from all labour, nearly as strictly as on the Sabbath. The four middle days are not so strictly kept. The last day of the festival is concluded with a peculiar ceremony, called Habdala, in the course of which the master of the house, holding a cup of wine in his hand, repeats a very considerable portion of Scripture, and finishes with drinking, and giving to others to drink, of the cup; after this they are at liberty to return to the use of leavened bread as usual. Such is the Passover, as now observed by the unbelieving Jews. That sacrifice we know has long since been done away, by an infinitely more valuable offering: at this season, nearly 1800 years ago, Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain, to deliver us from a far worse slavery than that of Egypt, and our souls from a far more fatal death than that threatened by the destroying angel; and, as Christians, we have far more reason than the Jews to observe this memorable season, for then "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."(1 Cor. v. 7, 8.) D. I. E. REPENTANCE is not like the summer-fruits, fit to be taken a little, and in their own time; it is like bread, the provisions and support of life, the entertainment of every day; but it is the bread of affliction to some, and the bread of carefulness to all; and he that preaches this with the greatest severity, it may be, takes the liberty of an enemy, but he gives the counsel and the assistance of a friend.- JEREMY TAYLOR. PRAYER. Ere the morning's busy ray Your wearied eyes in sweet repose, To lift your heart and voice in prayer Be your first and latest care. He, to whom the prayer is due, From Heaven His throne shall smile on you; Your daily labour to befriend, To guard you in the hour of sleep. When through the peaceful parish swells And oh! where'er your days be past; He only to the heart can give And place them where distress is o'er, And pleasures dwell for evermore. CRABBE. THE MOON. NEXT to the Sun, the Moon is to us the most interesting of all the celestial orbs. She is the constant attendant of the earth, and revolves around it in twenty-seven days eight hours, but the period from one new moon to another is about twenty-nine days twelve hours. She is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies, being only about 240,000 miles distant from the earth. She is much smaller than the earth, being only 2180 miles in diameter, and that of the earth is about 7930. Her surface, when viewed with a telescope, presents an interesting and variegated aspect, being diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks, and plains, in every variety of form and position. Some of these mountains form long and elevated ridges, while others, of a conical form, rise to a great height from the middle of level plains; but the most singular feature of the Moon, is those circular ridges and cavities which diversify every portion of her surface. A range of mountains, of a circular form, rising three or four miles above the level of the adjacent districts, surrounds, like a mighty rampart, an extensive plain; and, in the middle of this plain or cavity, an insulated conical hill rises to a considerable elevation. Several hundreds of these circular plains, most of which are considerably below the level of the surrounding country, may be perceived with a good telescope, on every region of the lunar surface. They are of all dimensions, from two or three miles to forty miles in diameter; and, if they be adorned with verdure, they must present to the view of a spectator, placed among them, a more variegated, romantic, and sublime scenery than is to be found on the surface of our globe. An idea of some of these scenes may be acquired by conceiving a plain, of about a hundred miles in circumference, encircled with a range of mountains, of various forms, three miles in perpendicular height, and having a mountain near the centre, whose top reaches a mile and a half above the level of the plain. From the top of this central mountain the whole plain, with all its variety of objects, would be distinctly visible, and the view would appear to be bounded on all sides by a lofty amphitheatre of mountains, in every diversity of shape, rearing their summits to the sky. From the summit of the circular ridge, the conical hill in the centre, the opposite circular range, the plain below, and some of the adjacent plains which encompass the exterior ridge of the mountains, would form another variety of view; and a third variety would be obtained from the various aspects of the central mountain and the surrounding scenery, as viewed from the plains below. The lunar mountains are of all sizes, from a furlong to five miles in perpendicular elevation. Certain luminous spots, which have been occasionally seen on the dark side of the Moon, seem to demonstrate that fire exists in this planet; Dr. Herschel, and several other astronomers, suppose that they are volcanoes in a state of eruption. The bright spots on the Moon are the mountainous regions, the dark spots are the plains, or more level parts of her surface. There may probably be rivers, or small lakes, on this planet; but there are no seas or large collections of water. It appears highly probable, from the observations of Schroeter, that the Moon is encompassed with an atmosphere, but no clouds, rain, or snow, seem to exist in it. The illuminating power of the light derived from the Moon, according to the experiments made by Leslie, is about 100,000th part of the illuminating power of the Sun. The moon always presents the same face to us; Savoy, one of the greatest generals of his age; the companion in arms and friend of Marlborough. Prince Eugene was also an admirer and encourager of literature and the arts. 1752 William Cheselden, an eminent surgeon and oculist, died at Bath, aged fifty-four. 1813 Died La Grange, who was esteemed the greatest mathematician in Europe since Euler. 1814 Battle of Toulouse, in which the French army, under Marshal Soult, was defeated by the Duke of Wellington. THURSDAY, 11th. 1713 The Treaty of Utrecht, which put an end to the twelve years FRIDAY, 12th. which proves that she revolves round her axis in the | 1736 Died, at Vienna, in his seventy-third year, Prince Eugene of same time that she revolves round the earth. As this ORB derives its light from the sun, and reflects a portion of it upon the earth, so the earth performs the same office to the moon. A spectator on the lunar surface would behold the earth like a luminous orb, suspended in the vault of heaven, presenting a surface about thirteen times larger than the moon does to us, and appearing sometimes gibbous, sometimes horned, and at other times with a round full face. The light which the earth reflects upon the dark side of the moon, may be distinctly perceived by a common telescope from three to six or eight days after the change. The lunar surface contains about sixteen millions of square miles, and is therefore capable of containing a population equal to that of our globe, allowing only about fifty three inhabitants to every square mile. That this planet is inhabited by sensitive and intelligent beings, there is every reason to conclude, from a consideration of the sublime scenery, with which its surface is adorned, and of the general beneficence of the Creator, who appears to have left no portion of his material creation without animated existences; and it is highly probable, that direct proofs of the moon's being inhabited may hereafter be obtained, when all the varieties on her surface shall have been more minutely explored. -DICK'S Christian Philosopher. THERE is no manner of inconvenience in having a pattern propounded to us, of so great perfection as is above our reach to attain to: and there may be great advantages in it. The way to excel, in any kind, is to propose the brightest and most perfect examples to our imitation. No man can write after too perfect and good a copy; and though he can never reach the perfection of it, yet he is likely to learn more than by one less perfect. He that aims at the heavens, which yet he is sure to come short of, is like to shoot higher than he that aims at a mark within his reach. -TILLOTSON. ANNIVERSARIES IN APRIL. 1364 Died John, surnamed the Good, King of France, one of whose TUESDAY, 9th. 1485 Died King Edward IV., first King of England of the House of Yerk, in the forty-second year of his age, and twentythird of his reign. 46 1626 Died, at the house of the Earl of Arundel, at Highgate, the 757 The first Organ ever seen in France was sent as a present to 69 Seneca and Lucan put to death by order of the tyrant Nero 1204 Constantinople taken by the French, the Greek Empire of the East overthrown, and the Latin Empire founded, which, however, lasted only fifty-eight years. 1638 All the Christians in the Islands of Japan, to the number of 1782 Metastasin, the great Italian lyric poet, died at Vienna. SATURDAY, 13th. 1436 Paris recovered from the English by King Charles VII. 1598 The Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of conscience and 1814 Died, at Chelsea College, in his eighty-eighth year, Charles 1827 Died at Sockatoo, in Africa, on his way to Timbuctoo, aged SUNDAY, 14th. The First Sunday after Easter, called also Low SUNDAY, from a 1685 Thomas Otway, the dramatic poet, died of want, if not even Died, in the seventieth year of her age, the celebrated Madume de Sevigné. 1707 The Battle of Almanza, in Spain, in which the English troops, being deserted by the Portuguese at the first onset, were almost wholly destroyed or taken prisoners. This battle was decisive of the contest between the French and Austrian competitors for the crown of Spain. 1759 George Frederick Handel, the illustrious musician, died. He 1767 The Jesuits expelled from Spain, Genoa, and Venice. LONDON PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. Bury, Lankester. EDUCATION UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. VOL. II. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. IN the suburbs of Canterbury, at a short distance eastward from the Cathedral Precincts, are still seen the ruins of an ancient ecclesiastical building, called the Abbey of St. Augustine. Augustine, or Austin, was sent to this country, at the end of the sixth century, by Pope Gregory the First, to convert the English Saxons from the worship of Woden and Thor, to Christianity. Ethelbert, at that time king of Kent, whose queen, Bertha, was already a Christian, consented to be baptized; and his example was soon followed by most of his subjects. But it should be remembered, that, previously to the memorable event of Augustine's landing on the coast of Kent, there existed in the realm of England a church independent of that of Rome; and that, although it had been persecuted, and almost destroyed, by the Saxons, Augustine could not prevail on the British bishops to own any allegiance to the Roman pontiff, nor to conform to the rules of that church. Augustine was invested with the archbishopric by Gregory, and died in 605, after having made the palace of Ethelbert, who had now fixed his residence at Reculver, a priory, and having founded, in conjunction with his sovereign, the abbey above mentioned, as a place of burial for himself and his successors. The office of archbishop, after having been filled by many successive prelates, was, at the time of the Conquest, in the hands of Stigand. Stigand having exerted himself to oppose the Norman race, was degraded from his dignity by the Conqueror, and confined in prison for the remainder of his life. The promotion of Lanfranc, a monk of Milan, to the see, in 1070, immediately followed the removal of Stigand. Lanfranc rebuilt the cathedral, which had been a third time destroyed by fire, and dedicated it to the Holy Trinity. But the original name, and that which it still retains, is Christ Church. The greater part of the fabric was again reduced to ashes in 1174. In this year Henry the Second performed penance for the murder of Thomas à Becket. Hastening to Canterbury for this purpose, the king bared his shoulders to the lashes which the monks inflicted upon him at Becket's shrine. derable benefactors to the Cathedral; among whom may be mentioned William Courtenay, who died in 1396, and Henry Chicheley, in 1443. The form of this interesting Cathedral is that of a double cress, with a tower rising from the intersection of the nave and west transept, and two other towers at the west end. The east end is rounded. The great tower, rising to a considerable height, is one of the most perfect specimens of the pointed style of architecture in this country. The remainder of the exterior exhibits specimens of various styles; but great ingenuity and skill are displayed in the construction of the different parts. The whole length of the interior, from east to west, is 514 feet; the extent of the east transept, from north to south, 154 feet; of the west transept, 124 feet; the breadth of the nave and its aisles, 71 feet; height of the choir, 71 feet; of the nave, 80 feet; extreme height of the great tower, 235 feet; of the south-west tower, 130 feet; of the north-west tower, 100 feet. The principal entrance is by the south porch. From this approach, the view of the vaulted roof is extremely fine; but the grand perspective, of nearly the whole length from east to west, produces the effect of surprise as well as of pleasure. It is by thus taking in the whole area of such a structure, that the impressions of awe and solemnity are produced on the mind, while the parts which help to compose it claim a separate regard, and excite different feelings. The painted windows, for instance, the finely-carved stalls, the lavish ornaments of fretwork, and a multitude of florid decorations, in which the ancient mechanics displayed their dexterity, raise the admiration of the beholder; but it is that sort of wonder occasioned by execution in music, where excellence consists in the proofs of extraordinary labour. The nave has an aisle on each side, from which it is separated by eight columns, besides the enormous pillars which support the great tower. The choir is entered from the nave by a beautiful stone screen, which is said to have been erected early in the fourteenth century, and which contains some curious statues of sovereigns in niches, particularly one, supposed to represent Ethelbert, holding the model of a Saxon church. Over this screen, till very lately, was the organ; but in the course of the repairs recently made, it has been removed to the south side, and placed out of sight. The organ-works communicate behind the choristers. The altar-screen is a modern erection, very beautiful, but perhaps not quite in harmony with the rest of the choir. The side-walls of the choir-aisles bear the Norman features of low semicircular arches, rising from short, thick columns, with heavy capitals, reminding the spectator of Lanfranc's Cathedral. A flight of steps communicates with an end of each of these aisles, and with a semicircular aisle surrounding the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, in the centre of which formerly stood the gorgeous shrine of Becket. The pavement round the spot where the shrine was placed, still bears traces of the veneration in which he was held, in the hollows of the stones, worn on every side, by the knees of pilgrims who crowded thither from all parts of Christendom to pay their devotions, and enrich the church with their gifts. "It was computed," says Hume, No time was lost in restoring the Cathedral after the fire, Measures were adopted in the same year (1174) for rebuilding it, on a scale of unusual grandeur and beauty. Architects, both English and French, were assembled; and William of Sens, aby pipes with the keys below, where the organist sits, man of genius and experience, was selected for the undertaking. During the fifth year of his labours, while he was preparing his machines for turning a great arch, he fell from a height of fifty feet, and was so much injured as to be compelled to give up his work, and retire home to France. The work then passed into the hands of an Englishman, who applied himself indefatigably to the task. A few of the old massive pillars of Lanfranc's Cathedral were retained; but the greater part was rebuilt with stone brought from Caen, as were the altars and chapels, to which the remains of the buried archbishops were conveyed to be reinterred-the body of St. Thomas, as he was styled (Thomas à Becket), alone continued untouched in the crypt, which runs beneath the edifice, till a magnificent chapel was finished for him, and preparations made for transferring him in full state. The removal accordingly took place in 1220, and the body was deposited in the chapel of the Holy Trinity, where it remained until the time of Henry the Eighth, who ordered the bones to be burnt, and the ashes dispersed in the air, declaring Becket to have been a stubborn rebel, and a traitor to his prince." Many of the succeeding archbishops were consi that, in one year, above a hundred thousand pilgrims arrived in Canterbury, and paid their devotions at his tomb." "The church," says Lambard, “became so rich in jewels and ornaments, that it might compare with Midas or Croesus; and so famous and renowned, (every pillar resounding St. Thomas, his miracles, prayers, and pardons,) that now the name of Christ was clean forgotten, and the place was commonly called St. Thomas's Church of Canterbury." Henry the Eighth, dissolving the priory of Christ Church, (then attached to the Cathedral,) ordered the shrine of Becket to be despoiled of its treasures. These treasures, consisting of gold and precious stones, filled two great chests, and were of such weight that six or seven strong men were just able to carry them out of the church. The north division of the west transept is called the Martyrdom, being the part where Becket fell beneath the blows of his murderers; and here, before the Reformation, was a small altar of wood, on which was placed the point of one of the swords, broken off in the commission of the murder. Out of a part of this pavement a piece of stone has been cut, said to have been sprinkled with Becket's brains. The great north window of the west transept contains some beautiful stained glass; but it suffered dreadfully, in common with the whole cathedral, during the shameful frenzy of the civil wars, in the seventeenth century. A puritan who signalized himself in the business of mutilation, while he was breaking this window, in which was a rich painting of Becket, of the full size, boasted" that he was doing the work of the Lord in rattling down proud Becket's glassy bones." The east transept contains a beautiful circular window, with representations of the four greater prophets, &c. Parts of this transept, being of Norman architecture, are most probably a portion of Lanfranc's fabric. There is a Chapel of the Virgin Mary, famous for its east window, and tastefully-decorated roof; a Chapel of St. Michael, which contains the tomb of Margaret Holland and her two illustrious husbands, as well as other memorials of the mighty dead. In the circular building called Becket's crown, which terminates the eastern extremity of the Cathedral, and which has never been completed, is the ancient stone chair in which the archbishops of Canterbury are enthroned. In the north aisle of the choir, are striking monuments of Archbishops Bourchier and Chicheley. The recumbent figure of the latter is admirable. The slab on which he reposes is arched beneath; and in the open part is a faithful sculpture of a human being in a winding sheet, as if sinking in death, by an entire decay of the frame, each bone appearing ready to protrude through the thin covering. Under the arches, which encircle the chapel of the Holy Trinity, is the monument of Henry the Fourth and his Queen, and that of the valiant and exemplary Edward the Black Prince, which is one of the most interesting objects in the cathedral. On the tomb lies his whole-length brass figure, in armour; his head encircled with a coronet, which was once enriched with gems. Shields of arms appear in the several compartments round the tomb, with the three ostrich feathers, the device of the Prince of Wales. An elegant canopy surmounts the tomb, upon which are placed the Prince's helmet, tabard, or coat of arms, gauntlets, &c. His sword and target, formerly among these trophies, are said to have been taken away in the time of the civil wars. state. The north-western tower, which was, perhaps, among the oldest portions of the cathedral, has been lately taken down, in consequence of its dilapidated The foundation-stone of a new tower, to be raised in its place, was laid ir September last; and the Dean and Chapter were cmpowered last year, by Act of Parliament, to borrow 25,000l., for the cost of its erection. DAVID HUME AND HIS MOTHER. HUME, the historian, received a religious education from his mother, and, early in life, was the subject. of strong and hopeful religious impressions; but, as he approached manhood, they were effaced, and confirmed infidelity succeeded. Maternal partiality, however alarmed at first, came at length to look with less and less pain upon this declension, and filial love and reverence seem to have been absorbed in the pride of philosophical scepticism; for Hume now applied himself with unwearied, and, unhappily, with successful efforts, to sap the foundation of his mother's faith. Having succeeded in this dreadful work, he went abroad into foreign countries; and as he was returning, an express met him in London, with a letter from his inother, informing him that she was in a deep decline, and could not long survive; she said she found herself without any support in her distress; that he had taken away that source of comfort upon which, in all cases of affliction, she used to rely, and that she now found her mind sinking into despair: she did not doubt that her son would afford her some substitute for her religion; and she conjured him to hasten to her, or at least to send her a letter, containing such consolations as philosophy can afford to a dying mortal. was overwhelmed with anguish on receiving this letter, and hastened to Scotland, travelling day and night; but before he arrived his mother expired. Hume No permanent impression seems, however, to have been made on his mind by this most trying event; and whatever remorse he might have felt at the moment, he soon relapsed into his wonted obduracy of heart.-SILLIMAN's Travels in England. A story like this requires no comment. Thus it is that false philosophy restores the sting to death, and gives again the victory to the grave! DEATH. FRIEND to the wretch, whom ev'ry friend forsakes, I leave to those that prize them. Hear me, O gracious God!-At thy good time Then shed thy comforts o'er me; then put or. Springs into liberty, and light, and life.-BP. PORTEUS, |