are mankind." But the forms of words and astonishment on the little com- ad to under which, in general, the custom | petitions, factions, and debates of darb has hitherto been maintained, how- mankind. When I read the several ever praiseworthy in their object, dates of the tombs, of some that Bu are, from their style of composition, died yesterday, and some six hut zarai rather calculated to bring ridicule dred years ago, I consider that and contempt on sacred subjects, great day when we shall all of w than to encourage such feelings as be contemporaries, and make or become the seasons and services appearance together." appropriated to religion, although little poems, written in a plain and easy style, and breathing proper sentiments of piety, could hardly fail to be generally useful. M. EPITAPHS. In visiting a church, for purposes of curiosity only, the objects that usually engage attention, after examining the building itself, are the memorials of the dead. They attract us by the reputation of the person to whose memory the tomb is raised, by the beauty of the monument itself, or of the inscription it bears. In the grief that is expressed, we often partake, from having ourselves experienced a similar loss; and when our own age and circumstances correspond with those of the dead, a warning voice admonishes us of the little space that exists "between the cradle and the grave." "When I look," says Addison, 'upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tomb-stone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them; when I consider rival wits placed side by side; or the holy men that divided the world by their contests and deutes, I reflect with sorrow THE GOOD AND THE BAD THE good make a better bargain, TEMPLE OF JAGGANATH. THE most celebrated place fa pilgrimages in India is the temple of Jagganath, in the province & Orissa. It is difficult to ascertain the number of victims yearly sa crificed under the wheels of the ponderous car which bears the Idol of Jagganath, but they are some years said to exceed two thousand, though this is not, I believe, common. Numbers of pilgrims perish on the 66 road to this sanguinary shrine, and their bodies generally remain unburied. "On a plain by the river," says Buchanan, near the pilgrims' caravanserai at this place, there are nore than a hundred skulls. The logs, jackals, and vultures seem to ive on human prey." Nothing can xceed the disgusting Saturnalia ere witnessed during the pro-ession of the sacred car. It is ruly horrible to behold those imnolations of which Southey has iven so just a picture in his imnortal poem, the Curse of Kehama. A thousand pilgrims strain system; till my mind rose to the great Maker of them all, who has not only given the stupendous laws | by which all these vast bodies move, but with the same precision has appointed the modes and term of existence of the smallest animal that inhabits them, and to the least atom that composes these worlds has given its invariable properties. I should have trembled at the thought of my own littleness, when my mind returned home from the contemplation of the universe, if I had not considered that the same Hand that created it, feeds the raven and up Arm, shoulder, breast, and thigh, with holds the sparrow, and has provided might and main, To drag that sacred wain, as infallibly for the preservation of the species of mites, as for the con And scarce can draw along the enormous load; servation of our solar system.-MRS. rone fall the frantic votaries in its road, And calling on the God, Their self-devoted bodies there they lay On Jagganath they call The ponderous car rolls on and crushes all. Groans rise unheard; the dying cry, Are trodden under foot by that mad throng, wheels along. ELIZABETH MONTAGUE. INSIGNIFICANCE OF MAN IN THE UNIVERSE. I was yesterday, about sunset, walking in the open fields, until the night insensibly fell upon me. I at first amused myself with all the richness and variety of colours which appeared in the western parts of the heaven: in proportion as they faded away, and went out, several stars and planets appeared one after another, until the whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the ether was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the season of the year, and by the rays of all those luminaries that passed through it. The galaxy appeared in its most beautiful white. To complete the scene, the full moon rose at length in that clouded majesty which Milton takes notice of, and opened to the eye a new picture of nature, which was more finely shaded, and disposed among softer lights, than that which the sun had before dis AN EVENING IN JULY. FOR Some time after sunset the hemisphere glowed with purple light, then faded to a silver gray, which was bright enough to show, to modest advantage, the fine country I travelled through; but by the time I had passed through Reading, there was an absence of light and objects, which prepared me well for the magnificent spectacle I was to be entertained with, when the night began to hang her golden lamps." With great attention I watched the rising of every star, till the whole heaven glowed with living sapphires; then I chose to consider them no longer separately as glow-covered to us. ing gems, but lost myself in worlds As I was surveying the moon beyond worlds, and system beyond walking in her brightness, and taking her progress among the constellations, a thought rose in me, which, I believe, very often perplexes and disturbs men of serious and contemplative natures. David himself fell into it, in that reflection, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou regardest him!" In the same manner, when I considered that host of stars, or, to speak more philosophically, of suns, which were then shining upon me, with those innumerable sets of planets, or worlds, which were moving round their respective suns; when I still enlarged the idea, and supposed another heaven of suns and worlds rising still above this which we discover, and these still enlightened by a superior firmament of luminaries, which are planted at so great a distance, that they may appear to the inhabitants of the former as the stars do to us; in short, whilst I pursued this thought I could not but reflect on that little insignificant figure which I myself bore amidst the immensity of God's works. Were the sun which enlightens this part of the creation, with all the host of planetary worlds that move about him, utterly extinguished and annihilated, they would not be missed more than a grain of sand upon the sea-shore. The space they possess is so exceedingly little in comparison of the whole, that it would scarce make a blank in the creation. The chasm would be imperceptible to the eye that could take in the whole compass of nature, and pass from one end of the creation to the other; as it is possible there may be such a sense in ourselves hereafter, or in creatures which are at present more exalted elves. We see many stars glasses, which we do not discover with our naked eyes; and the finer our telescopes are, the more still are our discoveries. Huygenius carries this thought so far, that he does not think it impossible there may be stars, whose light has not yet travelled down to us since their first creation. There is no question but the universe has certain bounds set to it; but when we consider that it is the work of Infinite Power, prompted by Infinite Goodness, with an infinite space to exert itself in, how can our imag nation set any bounds to it!-Sp tator. THE VILLAGE PASTOR. Ix the retired villages of our hod the pastor is often the only resident raised above the lowest rank of society. In such a situation he becomes a source of civilization and refinement to those around him His simple and unpretending, yet more polished manners; his mansion, with its modest ornaments; his gar den, tended and decked by the hand of taste; these impart some relish for improvement among his poorer and ruder neighbours. But further, he is ever at hand to relieve, to instruct, to advise, and to console his flock. His purse, scanty as it often is, administers to ther temporal wants; and he is yet more their benefactor by organizing and conducting plans more systematically formed for their relief. His influence may arrest the heavy arm, or softer the hard heart that would oppres them. His superior knowledge guides them through difficulties, where no other friend is near to give them counsel. His authority composes their little feuds and jer lousies. His words of sympathy and consolation soothe their dis tresses. His vigilant eye marks their first deviations from rectitude, and brings back the yet unhardened and reclaimable transgressor into he path of innocence. Even in their bodily ailments, his imple science, and his yet simpler tore of medicine, may arrest the rogress of disease and avert death. And as the Reformation has repealed he unscriptural rule, which made elibacy compulsory on the clergy, he 5, in the great majority of instances, ided by a partner, whose co-operaion is by so much the more valuable, s her habits qualify her for every ask of gentleness and mercy, more specially when she has to deal with he sick or the afflicted, the ignorant r the vicious, of her own sex.-EAN OF CHICHESTER. CHEERFULNESS. is the powers and goodness of eaven are infinite in their extent, nd infinite in their minuteness, to he mind cultivated as Nature meant t to be, there is not only delight in ontemplating the sublimity of the ndless sea, or everlasting mounains, or the beauty of wide-extended andscapes, but there is a pleasure n looking at every little flower, and very little shell that God has made. Nature has scattered around us, on very side, and for every sense, an nexhaustible profusion of beauty and sweetness, if we will but pereive it. The pleasures we derive rom flowers, from musical sounds, rom forms, are surely not given us n vain, and if we are constantly live to these, we can never be in want of subjects of agreeable conemplation, and must be habitually cheerful.-CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. considerably greater. In each of these places is heard the sound of the Sabbath-bell, reminding all that hear it of the return of God's holy day, and inviting them to his house of prayer. Doubtless, there are many persons who discover nothing attractive in the sound, nothing holy in the work to which it calls them. But to a large body of our countrymen, the door of that house is not opened in vain; and multitudes of them are led thither every week, to listen to the glad tidings of the Gospel, and to unite in the services of Christian worship. Can any sensible man question, as it respects the population generally, the mighty effects of these weekly associations, and these regular means of grace? Can it be doubted that a vast influence is thus everywhere at work, operating beneficially upon the moral feelings and character of the people at large? denomination of men truly any "We are not the better for it?" -DR. DEALTRY. Can say, THE secret direction of Almighty God is principally seen in matters relating to the good of the soul;yet it may also be found in the concerns of this life;-which a good man, that fears God and begs his direction, shall very often, if not at all times, find.—I can call my own experience to testify that, even in the external actions of my whole life, I was never disappointed of the best guidance and direction, when I have, the secret direction and guidance in humility and sincerity, implored of the Divine wisdom.-SIR MATTHEW HALE. MRS. CHAPONE was asked why she always came so early to Church?— EFFECT OF OUR PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. THE total number of benefices, or, more properly, separate incumben-"Because," said she, "it is part of cies in this country, is about 10,700; my religion never to disturb the rethe number of church places of ligion of others." worship within these districts, is THE heart is a soil in which every instruction which may be derived, from the delightful contemplation of the various objects with which we are perpetually surroundedJESSE's Gleanings. ill weed will take root and spread itself. There the thorns of worldly care, and the thistles of worldly vanity, will grow and flourish. As the husbandman watches his land, so should the Christian search and examine his heart, that he may cast out of it all those unprofitable weeds and roots of bitterness which will naturally get possession of it. If this work is rightly performed, the soil will be ready for the good seed of the word of God, which will spring up and prosper under the influence of divine grace, as the corn groweth by a blessing of rain and sunshine from the heaven above.JONES of Nayland. BIRDS ILLUSTRATIVE OF PROVIDENCE. THE warmth and protection which birds receive from their parent is beautifully illustrative of the security afforded by a superintending Providence, to those who apply to him for help: "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust." To my feelings there is not in the whole Bible a more elegant or delightful metaphor than this, or one which the human mind, especially in a state of affliction and distress, may dwell upon with greater comfort and satisfaction. When I have seen a bird of prey hovering over some newly-hatched chickens, and perceived them run for shelter under the wings of their parent, I am forcibly reminded that in the hour of danger and temptation I may fly, by prayer, to my heavenly Father for refuge and protection. Those who may have made the works of creation their study, will have had many opportunities of appreciating the truth of the remarks I have ventured from time to time to make, respecting the lessons of THERE is a beauty in the name appropriated by the Saxon nations to the Deity, unequalled, except by His most venerated Hebrew appellation. They called him “GOD," which is literally "THE GOOD" the same word thus signifying the Deity, and His most endearing quality.-SHARON TURNER. PRAYER OF KING CHARLES HAVING been informed by Mr. Le The composition manifests a frame of mind, animated with the sublime truths of our holy religion; as such, |