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1838.] EXTRACT FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

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Christ preach. If you will read and pray over these three chapters in private, if you will open your ears and your hearts to them when they are read at church by the minister, you will find that they contain the whole body of Christian practice, delivered too by Christ himself; and that therefore they contain the very best sermon that was ever preached. I would by no means have you inattentive to the sermons delivered by your minister from the pulpit; but I would have you pay more attention than is commonly paid to the word of God itself, when it is read to you from the reading desk; and especially would I commend this sermon to your most attentive and prayerful consideration whenever you hear it read at church, or whenever you read it yourselves, since it is no less than a sermon from the "Great High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ," our blessed Lord and Saviour.

Though the Gospel is preached to the poor, yet mark you, my family, it is only they that are "poor in spirit" that will enjoy the privileges and comforts of the Gospel. There are poor people who are as proud in spirit as their richer neighbours, but they must pray for grace to bring them to such a frame of mind as will enable them to receive Christ as their only Saviour, and to follow his precepts with humility, else they are not among the poor that will be blessed at Christ's second coming. They that mourn for sin will be comforted; they that " sow in tears shall reap in joy;" they that sow repentance with a broken and contrite heart, shall reap the joys of full and free salvation through Jesus Christ. The meek may be said to inherit the earth, because they have it as it were to themselves; they molest none-few are disposed to molest them; or if they are molested, they bear it patiently. "They avenge not, but give place to wrath;" "committing themselves to Him that judgeth righteously," they remain at peace. May you and I, my family, pray earnestly and frequently, for poverty of spirit, for godly sorrow for sin, and for meekness; so shall we cheerfully receive the humbling doctrines of the cross, lead a quiet and peaceable life here, and be sure of being with Christ in Heaven. A LAYMAN.

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MOST of the species of the Thrush feed upon berries, and other kinds of fruit. Many of them have a sweet voice, and when they are listened to in an evening may at first give the notion that it is the song of the nightingale; though a little attention will show the difference. The Thrush will sing during nearly nine months in the year. Few birds are listened to with greater delight. This bird remains with us in this country during the whole of the year.

The Fieldfare, which visits us at this cold season of the year, is a kind of Thrush. Great flocks of them arrive from Russia, Siberia, and other more northern parts of the continent. They visit us about the beginning of October, and feed during that season on the hawthorn, holly, and other berries. Even in this climate they suffer considerably during very severe frost, and seem to be sadly weakened and tamed thereby. At other times it is very difficult to get near them. They seem to have the same method of guarding against danger that other birds, and many kinds of animals, have. It appears that they keep a kind of watch, to observe whether danger is at hand. On any person approaching a tree that is covered with them, they continue for awhile without any fear: till one of them that is set to watch at the end of a branch, gives the alarm, flies away, and the rest follow. Sometimes one will stay behind, as if to learn what was the extent of the danger; and if he sees that it is an enemy

1838.] SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS.

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that approaches, he will take care to be off in good time.

The Blackbird, too, is a sort of Thrush. He lives on worms, and snails, and other kind of insects, as well as on fruit. In confinement, he will eat crumbs of bread, and even flesh either raw or cooked. This is a solitary bird, and loves retired situations. He has a fine and powerful voice. He begins his song early in the spring, and continues it through some parts of the summer, but stops during the moulting season, but takes up his song again in September, and continues it till the winter sets in. Bingley.

SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS.

CONSIDERING himself a pilgrim on earth, and that he must shortly appear before God to give an account of the deeds done in the flesh, and knowing that eternal life is the gift of God's love through Jesus Christ, the Christian will ever make that love the constant theme of his meditation, the enlivening principle of his hopes and conduct, and it will animate his exertions to promote the glory of God, and the temporal and spiritual welfare of his fellowcreatures. He will fix his eyes on Jesus as "the way, the truth, and the life," through whom alone he can have access to the Father, and will study his life, his doctrines, and precepts, in the humble but earnest hope of imitating, adopting, and following them. Conscious, at the same time, of his natural inability to act up to the dictates of reason, conscience, and Scripture, he will ardently pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and strengthen him. Feeling, notwithstanding his best exertions, that he is ever far removed from that purity which the law of God requires, and instructed that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord," he will pray without ceasing to obtain it. Still he finds a perpetual opposition from the world, from the corruptions of his own heart, and from the temptations of Satan, so that he cannot do the good which he would, while he does the evil which he would not; and bewailing his propensity to sin, and lamenting his depravity, he exclaims with St. Paul, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

The same Scriptures which teach him his weakness and his incompetency to deliver himself, point out a remedy and deliverance in the words of the apostle, which he joyfully appropriates to himself, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Thus striving against sin, and aiming at habitual holiness, he fights the good fight of faith, and lays hold on eternal life, trusting that he shall obtain it through the merits of that Saviour who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. He sees that his business in this life is to prepare for eternity, without prying into the secret will of God; that enough has been revealed, on the mysterious subject of the Divine dispensations, to silence doubt and to inspire confidence; that it is his duty to do the will of his Heavenly Father, and, in a life governed by this principle, he has an assurance of an inheritance eternal and incorruptible through Jesus Christ."-Lord Teignmouth.

The Sabbath. It is no rash assertion, that from that holy institution, the Sabbath, have accrued to man more knowledge of his God, more instruction in righteousness, more guidance of his affections, and more consolation of his spirit, than from all other means which have been devised in the world to make him wise and virtuous. We cannot fully estimate the effects of the Sabbath, unless we were once deprived of it. Imagination cannot picture the depravity which would gradually ensue, if time were thrown into one promiscuous field, without those heavendirected beacons to rest and direct the passing pilgrim. Man would then plod through a wilderness of being, and one of the avenues, which now admits the light that will illuminate his path, would be perpetually closed.-Bishop Dehon.

"Open Thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law." (Psalm cxix. 18.) Though the Psalmist had declared the great excellency of God's law, and his entire delight in it, yet he could not, of himself, understand it. The natural man is dark; the eyes of his mind are shut against the wonders of God's truth; we must pray God to open them, or we shall never see any holy thing aright.-Rev. J. Slade.

1838.]

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EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c.

Efficacy of Vitriol for the Prevention of Smut in Wheat.-Mr. Parsons, of Hillside Farm, Banghurst, complained to Mr. Jackson, of Newbury, that his land was of no use to him as wheat land, for it was always smutty; Mr. Jackson advised him to try the prepared vitriol, which he did in the following manner:-One field, of 28 acres, he sowed with the prepared wheat, and also a strip with the same sort of corn, not prepared; the result is, the prepared corn is remarkably clean and healthy, while the strip, which was through the field, is so smutty that it is nearly useless.-Oxford Herald.

Attempts are now making to extend the cultivation of the cranberry, so as to furnish a certain and regular supply to the London markets. It is said that £20 to £30 worth of the berries are sold by the poor people each market-day, for five or six weeks together, in the town of Longtown, on the borders of Cumberland. They will grow with little trouble in places and soils where few other plants will thrive. The American cranberry is more productive than the English, but has not so good a flavour.

At the meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society, in London, Earl Stanhope mentioned that he had recently made trials of a substitute for coffee, which was very mild and salutary, and a gentle tonic. It was made from acorns which were cut and bruised, and then moderately roasted and dried. When properly prepared, it made a most excellent beverage, which he recommended to the attention of the members.

Short Rules for Health.-To have healthy bodies, people must go early to bed, they must rise early in the morning; they must enjoy bodily exercise during a certain period of each day, and be exposed while taking that exercise to the direct influence of the sun's light; and their minds are at no time so fitted to work, as during the day, which, by nature's laws, is the proper time for work of all kinds.

Italian Ryegrass.-A new sort of ryegrass called the Italian ryegrass, was last season introduced, and sown on a small scale in two or three places in Berkshire, and from what we can at present judge, it is a plant deserving attention. It appears to be a very early grass, and, when sown on a warm soil in good condition, it affords as much feed, and quite as early, as a good water meadow. It is supposed to be very sweet, as hares come from a vast distance to feed upon the same, and if sown amongst rapes or sweeds, to be eaten in the spring, it will be found uncommonly beneficial, as affording a very great abundance of most excellent food at a time when it is so very much wanted; all the seed that could be procured has been readily purchased at 20s. per bushel, and we believe that it will be an excellent addition to the list of cultivated grasses.

London Botany.-The love of flowers is so natural a feeling, that even in the most unfavourable situations, this feeling has been exercised, and often with great success. There are a number of very ardent botanists in London, residing in situations where it would appear altogether impossible to admit of vegetation. The late R. Salisbury possessed a very choice collection of alpines, in pots, in a small back yard, in Queen street, Edgewareroad; Miss Kent had a garden of British plants, in pots, on the roof of her house in St. Paul's Church Yard; and Mr. Ward, of Wellclose-square,

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