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No, while his lightnings flash around,
Although the earth's foundation move,
I stand secure on faith's firm ground,
I rest in his unchanging love.

Nothing shall fright my soul from God,
Should he the skies this moment rend,
He is my only safe abode:

My rock, my refuge, and my friend.

LIBERALITY ENCOURAGED.

S. H.

"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." Prov. xi. 25.

CHRISTIAN, wouldst thou in grace excel,

Wouldst thou enlarge thy store?

Use what thou hast with liberal zeal,

And God will give thee more.

Let not thy sacred talents lie
Conceal'd beneath the ground,
But bless thy fellow-Christians, by
The treasures thou hast found.

Comfort the feeble and oppress'd,
With tokens of thy love;
Then shall thy soul be well refresh'd,
And water'd from above.

Shew kind affection, special care,

To the afflicted poor;

Give freely what thou hast to spare,
And God will give thee more.

The liberal heart, the liberal hand,
Jehovah loves to bless :

By such he will most surely stand,

And keep them from distress.

AN EJACULATION.

LET praise employ my heart and tongue :
Let grace, free grace, be all my song,

While life and breath remain :
In this sweet work I love t' engage,
And when I quit this earthly stage
I'll sing a nobler strain.

VERSES ON MARRIAGE.

SIR,

THE following lines, which are copied verbatim from the original, were composed by an illiterate man, at Ponder's End, but one who (I believe)" Fears God, and loves all mankind." In reading these lines, 1 was particularly pleased, with that beautiful sentiment of "dependance on God," which runs through the whole.

If, Sir, you think them worth a place in your Miscellany, they are at your service. W. BICKNELL, Junr.

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the gay hours of reason's early dawn,
I trod with rapture o'er the lovely lawn;
While Hope sat pointing to the pleasing view,
Enamour'd with the scenes which frolic fancy drew.

Till far from these perennial sweets I stray'd,
Led by variety's delusive charms;

And join'd th' ambitious crowd, where vice, array'd
In virtue's fairest robes, pours forth her dire alarms.

So the sweet stream unsullied flows along,

Dispensing life to ev'ry drooping flow'r,

That breathes its fragrance round its sedgy shore, While whisp'ring zephyrs join its soft remurm'ring song;. Till wildly wand'ring, negligent of home,

It joins the roaring deep, where dashing waters foam.

E. G.

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WE have already given several instances of the waters of the sea having inundated different parts of the land, and after a certain period retiring again. We will now add, that there are many places along the coasts of our own island, which give proof of their having been in this state, though there is no historical memoir concerning it.

The excellent and pious Mr. Derham gives an account, that in his time there happened an inundation of the sea at Dagenham in Essex, which laid bare a part of the adjacent pasture, for more than two hundred feet in width, and in some places, twenty in depth. It discovered a number of trees that had, probably, lain there for many ages. These trees, by lying long under ground, were become black and hard, and their fibres so tough, that, he says, it was almost as easy to break a wire as any of them: they lay so thick in the place where they were found, that, in many parts, he could step from one to another: he conceived also, that not only the adjacent marshes, for several hundred acres, were covered underneath with such timber, but also the marshes along the mouth of the Thames, for several miles. The meeting with these trees at such a depth, he ascribes to the sediment of the river, and the tides, which constantly washing over them, have always left some part of their substance behind, so as, in a long course of time, to work a bed of vegetable earth over them, to the height at which he found it,

Hatfield-Chace, in Yorkshire, contains above eighteen thousand acres of ground. This tract, was, for many ages, yearly overflown, A Dutch gentleman, named Cornelius Vermusden, at length reduced it to arable and pasture-land. Under the surface of this wide extent, are found millions of the roots and bodies of trees, of such kinds as this island VOL. IV.

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either formerly did, or does at present produce. The roots of all, stand in their proper postures; and by them, as thick as they could grow, the resepctive trunks of each: some of them even above thirty yards long.

The oaks, some of which have been sold for fifteen pounds apiece, are as black as ebony, very lasting, and close grained. The ash trees are as soft as earth, and are generally cut to pieces by the spade in digging, and as soon as flung into the open air, and dried, turn to dust. But all the rest, even the willows, which are softer than the ash, preserve their substance and texture to this very day. Some of the firs appear to have vegetated, even after they were fallen, and to have, from their branches, struck up large trees, as great as the parent stock. It is observable also, that many of these trees have ben burnt, some quite through, some on one side; some have been found chopped and squared, others riven with great wooden wedges, all sufficiently manifesting, that the country, which was deluged, had formerly been inhabited. Near a great root of one tree, were found eight coins of the Roman Emperors; and, in some places the marks of the ridge and furrow were plainly perceivable, which testified that the ground had formerly been cultivated.

The gentleman who has given this account, in Phil. Trans. Vol. VI. Part II. p. 214. has conjectured that this forest must have been thus levelled by the Romans; and that the falling of the trees, must have contributed to the accumulation of the waters. "The Romans, (says he) when the Britons fled, always pursued them into the fortresses of low woods, and miry forests: in these, the wild natives found shelter; and as opportunity offered, issued out, and fell upon their invaders without mercy. In this mannet, the Romans were at length so harrassed, that orders were given for cutting down all the woods and forests in Britain.

In order to effect this, and destroy the enemy the easier, they set fire to the woods, composed of pines, and other inflammable timber, which spreading, the conflagration destroyed not only the forests, but also great numbers of wretched inhabitants, who had taken shelter in them. When, by the pine trees, they had done what mischief they could, the Roman then brought their army nearer, and, with whole legions of captive Britons, cut down most of the trees that were yet left standing; leaving only here and there some great trees untouched, as monuments of their fury. These, being destitute of the support of the underwood, and of neighbouring trees, were easily overthrown by the winds, and without interruption, remained on the places were they happened to fall. The forest, thus fallen, must necessarily have stopped up the current, both from land and sea; and turned into considerable lakes, what were before but temporary streams. The working of the waters here, the consumption and decay of rotten boughs upon marshy grounds, soon formed a covering over the trunks of the fallen trees, and raised the earth several feet above its former level. The earth thus every day swelling, by a continual increase from the sediment of the waters, and by the lightness of the vegetable substances, of which it was composed, soon overtopt the waters; so that the country by degrees rose above the inundation, and only required a little assistance from the hand of man fo compleat the work. Perhaps this may be the manner of the formation

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