man at the brace to wind up, but alas! after trying with all his might he could not start them. At this awful moment, when the furious hissing of the fuse assured them that their destruction was within half a minute's march of them, Verran sprang out of the kibble, exclaiming to his comrade Roberts, “Go on, brother, I shall be in heaven in a minute!" Roberts was consequently drawn up, and Verran threw himself down, and placed his poor devoted head under a piece of plank, in one corner of the shaft, awaiting the moment when he should be blown to atoms. Just as Roberts got to the brace, and was looking down with trembling apprehension, the whole went off with a tre mendous explosion, and a small stone struck Roberts severely on the forehead as he was looking down the shaft. To the inexpressible surprise and joy of the men at the brace, they heard Verran cry out, "Don't be afraid; I am not hurt!" Roberts immediately descended, and found that the great burthen of the blast was thrown in every part of the shaft, except the corner where poor Verran was coiled up. This extraordinary circumstance has produced a considerable sensation throughout the district. Not only do they view the escape as a miraculous interposition of Divine Providence, but the conduct of Verran as a noble instance of what a real christian will do in a moment of extremity.-Altered from the Mining Journal.

SINGULAR FULFILMENT OF A PREDICTION. Huss, the early martyr of the Protestant Reformation, when brought to the stake, said with great solemnity, in allusion to his name of " Huss," which signifies a goose-"They burn a goose; but in a hundred years a swan will arise out of its ashes." He probably had only some general meaning, but it was afterwards remarked that the name "Luther" signifies a swan.

THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN.

THERE is a melancholy pleasure in wandering about our gardens in autumn. The gayest flowers have all passed away, and were it not for the varied and beautiful tints exhibited by the fading foliage at this season, the aspect around us would be

dreary and monotonous indeed. It is scarcely figurative language to say now of our gardens, that the sun of their glory has set, and the stars are coming, one by one, through its chill and dreary afternoon-twilight. Even the flaunting dahlia, with its crimson or sulphur-colored flowers, is only the Mars or Venus of the train; and the China-aster, the crysanthemum, and the Michaelmas daisy, are merely fixed stars of different magnitudes and brilliancy. Yet are they heralds, one and all, of better things to come, and though the dark and stormy winter is at hand, they hold forth the lamp of God's unfailing love, not only to lead us through the gathering gloom, but to prophesy of that consummate power which can unfold the slumbering seed, and develop it in forms of glory and perfection in the coming Spring. They have a voice that seems with more than mortal eloquence to say, "I will not leave you comfortless!" God never will; and it is he who speaks, as well through the gentler beauties of a flower garden, as the overwhelming majesty of the mountain or the ocean. He has only turned over a page in the decrees of his unslumbering mercy; and it is one as full of light and loving-kindness as any that have gone before it. But for the righteous, "light is sown," as well as reaped; and it is now the seed time of his promises, and not the period of their expansion.

The mist hangs heavily and cold upon the drooping flowers; and the fallen leaves that strew the path, are matted together and hastening to decay. The poor insect clings, listless and benumbed, upon the topmost bloom that overlooks the wall, and reflects the lingering sunbeam; and the spider has hurried up the glittering thread that leads him to his chilly chamber. These shall live out their lives and be forgotten of us; but the leaf and the flower are only passing into other phases: they are not to go away for ever: they may die, but they will not be lost: the dew, the rain, the sunbeam, and all the beautiful and baleful influences of the atmosphere will temper them for other uses, and then, He who abideth faithful and cannot deny himself, will write upon the renovated face of nature his own answer to his own enigma; "I will not, I will not leave thee; I will never, never, never for-sake thee."

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

"WHAT do you think?" is the question asked by nine Christians out of ten, under any perplexity or trouble. Have you no opportunity, then, of carrying your question to God, and obtaining his answer through the medium of his word? I will venture to say you have: and yet you would rather know what man thinks, than what God says. It is really lamentable to see in how very few instances the Bible is first appealed to, and then it must be made palatable, by diluting it with human conjecture; and sipping cautiously what one of the old fathers has well called this "deadly mixture of gospel and opinion."

HEATHEN CHARITY.

THE Rev. Mr. Allen, an American missionary, in giving details concerning the various public institutions in Bombay, thus notices what every one must regard as a most singular establishment.

It has been said that heathenism never furnished a hospital. There is at least one exception to the truth of this remark. There is one here, supported at an expense of 16,000 dollars (£4,000.) annually. It was founded by a donation of 100,000 dollars, by a native merchant of the Jain sect; the doctrines of which forbid the destruction of animal life in any case whatever. The management of this hospital is wholly in heathen hands, and heathen liberality furnishes all its resources. In it are gratuitously supported, from fifty to one hundred old horses, about one hundred and seventy-five cows and oxen, two hundred dogs, and a large number of cats, monkeys, and other animals. Its charities are accessible to living beings of every species except the human race. Men, women, and children, wounded, sick, and destitute, are allowed to die unaided within sight of its walls. Such is the character of the only hospital, so far as is known, that heathenism ever built.-Hong Kong Gazette.

UNWRITTEN HISTORY.

HISTORY is a much more comprehensive term than is usually supposed: it is not to be studied from written records only. Dr. Buckland has shewn how a stone may relate its own history,

and an elegant little work, the production of Dr. Mantell, has lately reached its sixth edition, in which "the adventures of a pebble," are lucidly and eloquently deduced from internal evidence.

We will give a few illustrations, showing how important and interesting points of history may be disclosed by,

1. Observation. The pyramids of Egypt are known to be very old buildings-perhaps the oldest in the world. But the stones of which they are constructed must be still older. These stones imbed certain organised forms, and must have been once in a semifluid state. This state of sand or mud, then, preceded that in which we now find them. The enclosed fossils, which have been called nummulites-money-stones,-from their resemblance to a piece of money, are the petrified remains of a small shell-fish analagous to the nautilus, which must have lived even before the soft materials, now concreted and worked as stone, existed in their earliest forms; and we are thus carried back to a period so remote, that even the age of the pyramids contrasted with it, dwindles into insignificance. This is the conclusion arrived at by simple observation and reflection only.

2. Collation. By connecting fact with fact, we may proceed still farther back. We find the layer of stone which contains these nummulites, when in its natural position, occupying a place above many other strata, all of which must be necessarily older in proportion as they recede downwards in the earth. Again, we go to another locality, and we find, in the very lowest stratum there discovered, certain proofs in the shape of other fossils, that its own history has yet several unexamined chapters. 3. Induction and Analogy enable us to do much more. Observation shews a variety of changes among the heavenly bodies. It is notorious that the stars go out, rekindle, or disappear entirely; and these processes are so continually going forward, that one astronomer alone numbered no less than a hundred such changes in his life-time. We may regard the distance of the stars as clearly proved from their having no parallax. Their immense size results from this conclusion, as they would not otherwise be visible at so vast a remove from our planet. Their powerful light, at the same time, satisfies us that they must be selfillumined, because some of the planets, though so much nearer,

are comparatively dim; and having arrived at these deductions, we at once agree to consider the stars as suns, and the centres of other systems. We now bring analogy to bear upon the question, and ask ourselves, why, if these systems perish, or decay, or temporarily disappear-why may not our own system, or such a part of it as the earth we live on, have been subject to similar casualties or modifications? Geology comes in aid of our investigations, and assures us that it has; it presents us with a mass of old materials, "broke and torn," as Burnett describes them, by convulsions the most tremendous and extensive; and Tradition as its handmaid, exhibits to us a vast accumulation of collateral evidences. Thus astronomy unfolds to us the first chapters of history; and geology continues, whilst tradition confirms the sequel, till we arrive at the period of what may be properly called monumental documents.-Memoir on Maidstone.

LETTER TO A SON ON COMMENCING HIS
APPRENTICESHIP.

MY DEAR HENRY,-THE time, so anxiously desired by you, has at length arrived, when you leave the instructions of your tutors at school to attend upon those of a master in that business which is to qualify you for providing your future maintenance. It is proper at the beginning of a new and important period of your life, that you should review its previous years; and ascertain how far you have improved the advantages that were offered you in your education, and are prepared to fulfil those duties which have now to be performed. Self-examination is at all times a wise and salutary exercise; but particularly so when called to enter an untried state, that presents difficulties only to be overcome by industrious principles. If, on reflection, you are convinced that too much time has been devoted to the gratification of a playful disposition, to the neglect of learning, there is yet opportunity to redeem it. In the early part of your apprenticeship, leisure will be afforded for this purpose, that cannot be obtained when your services are more constantly required by business. Should virtuous principles be so weak, as not to refuse instant compliance with the solicitations of those who may seek to allure you into the paths of forbidden pleasures;