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in holy aspirations to high communings with the ever-blessed Trinity. You will outlive the dissolution of all things. They might all perish in a night, like Jonah's gourd, and the world be no worse for it. Were they to sink in a moment into the yawning gulf of annihilation, never again to emerge into life, the glory of eternity would not be shrouded in sackcloth, or dimmed in the smallest degree. But "ye are of more value than many sparrows;" yea, than "the cattle upon a thousand hills." You are more "precious in the sight of the Lord " than the entire terraqueous globe, or all sidereal worlds. God has created you in His own image; made the world and all things in it for your sake, for "all are yours." He has redeemed you with the precious blood of His beloved Son,-a sacrifice greater than the immolation of a created universe, and He waits to receive from your conversion and salvation revenue of glory in the everlasting world. You are a transcript of Himself: you take a higher position in the scale of being, and are a far more important link in the chain of the living universe, than all the fowls of the air. You are destined to fill a nobler place in the future world, and to shine as the sun in the kingdom of your Father. If, then, God care for and feed the inferior creatures of His great family, will He not much more provide for you who are so much better than they ?

"You, on whom He favours showers;

You, possest of nobler powers;
You, of Reason's powers possest;
You, with Will and Memory blest;
You, with finer sense endued;
Creatures capable of God?"

"Will He not much more feed ye of little faith ?"

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you, 0

But our Lord's reasoning goes a step farther, and reminds us that we are in a very much better position to supply our own wants than the fowls of the

air, and therefore we ought not to be anxious about temporal supplies.

"The

The feathered tribes are, indeed, provided for in a manner suited to their several natures and different capacities. The Lord of all does not supply their need without effort on their part. Food does not, like the vital air which they breathe, fly to them on the wings of the morning, and find them lazily sitting upon the perch, or idly basking in the nest. Their own powers are called into operation in search of food. young lions seek their meat from God; " and the birds fly from their place to find the crumbs and the corn on which they feed. "That Thou givest them they gather." The common Parent puts them in circumstances favourable for obtaining sustenance and shelter; and by following their unerring instincts, by the exertion of that sagacity and strength which they receive from God, they gather, in little quantities, their daily supplies.

But their instinct, wonderful as it is, cannot compare with the intellect of man. It is a very inferior power. It has no inventive or improving faculty. Its range is limited; its foresight is scanty; it can do very little for their provision. "They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns." They have no fields; they gather no harvests; they possess no storehouse, where they might lay up provision against the blasts and snows of coming time. Yea, could

you give them all these,-fertile fields, teeming harvests, spacious granaries, -what would they all avail? They have no skill to invent implements of agriculture for breaking up the fallow ground; when the time of sowing arrived, they could not cast in the seed; and the golden harvest would wave in all its teeming plenty, and rot in the fields instead of being gathered into barns, or housed for the future. How dependent is their position! They are, indeed, the vériest

THE FOWLS OF THE AIR.

creatures of Providence; pensioners on the Divine bounty; unable, with one or two slight exceptions, to make suitable provision for the future.

How different from all this are your circumstances and ability! The whole earth is put into your hand; given as your heritage; as food for your sustenance. "The chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things of the lasting hills," are yours. (Deut. xxxiii. 15.) Cursed as is the earth, even unto the production of briers, and thorns, and noxious weeds, after their kind, you are not compelled, like the fowls of heaven, to content yourself with its spontaneous produce. God "teacheth you more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh you wiser than the fowls of heaven." (Job xxxv. 11.) You can "plough all day to sow ;" you can "open and break the clods of the ground." When you have "made plain the face thereof," you can "cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin." Over the wide-spreading acres, you can "cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place. For" your "God doth instruct" you "to discretion, and doth teach" (Isai xxviii. 24-26.) You can "sow fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase." (Psalm evii. 37.) Before the inventions of human skill, and the ever - plyed energy of human industry, the earth puts forth her increase in the most sterile places, and barrenness is "turned into a fruitful field." When "the harvest of the earth is ripe," it rots not in the field. The "sickle is thrust into the standing corn," wherewith "the mower filleth his hand, and the reaper his bosom." The "barns are filled with plenty." The breadcorn flies from the husk under the stroke of the threshing-instrument. The "sound of the grinding is heard;" the meal is put into the kneading-trough: the "bread cometh forth from the oven;" man "eateth,

you.

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and is satisfied." "This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." (Isai. xxviii. 29.)

By a thousand expedients, all lawful and proper, you can anticipate almost every need, provide for every want. No other creature in the world has your power of providence and forethought. And if the fowls of the air, who can exercise no pre-vision, anticipate no necessity, and put forth no effort to raise from the earth the food which they require, are so blithe and free from care, ought not you to

But with so large

be much more so? an heritage of goodness, and ennobled with powers which can turn all nature to advantage, making her minister, like a loving handmaid, to your needs, will not ye cast to the winds all distressing anxiety about your food, or your future? If, in such circumstances of apparent helplessness, the feathered tribes are amply supplied with convenient food, is it unreasonable to expect that He who has made you capable of using suitable means for securing support, will, by His blessing, render the use of those means effectual P "Can it be supposed," says an old writer, "that a great King, who has plenty of all things, and makes abundant provision for all his household,-who takes care, not only of the meanest and unworthiest of his servants, but also of his beasts and fowls,-should yet suffer to starve, or to want needful things, his son and heir, for whom he designs his kingdom? And this is the very case here: God is the great King over all the earth; all things that are in the earth are His; and the care of His providence extends

That little fellow," said Luther, when he saw a bird going to roost, "has chosen his shelter, and is quietly rocking himself to sleep without a care for tomorrow's lodging, calmly holding by his little twig, and leaving God to think for him!"

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THE NAME OF JESUS.-THE ZOOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.

to the vilest and most worthless of His creatures. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens (which were unclean birds) when they ery. Can it be supposed, then, that He will starve His children? Can it be imagined that He will deny means to prolong this temporal life-so long as it shall be for their good to have it prolonged-to those for whom, when this life is over, He hath prepared a kingdom, and glory, and immortality in heaven? 'Your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ?'"

O doubting and feeble disciple of Jesus, art thou tempted to indulge this over-care about food, and raiment, and futurity? Think of the fowls of the air, and learn a lesson of cheerful trust in thy heavenly Father's providence. They have no resources, yet see how happy they are! No anxious thought disturbs their little breasts. Whether perched on the twig of the hedgerow, or the branch of a tree, or skimming the air in joyous flights, their brisk movements and cheery notes all tell of light-heartedness and freedom from care. And are they not fed as plentifully and regularly as thyself? Do they not fly from the bush, and every morning find meat where they laid it not? Thy "heavenly Father feedeth them," and will He not feed thee? Where is the father who cares for his fowls, and would starve his children? not much better than they?"

"Are ye

THE NAME OF JESUS.
FROM THE LATIN OF ST. BERNARD.
"Unto you which believe He is precious."
JESUS! the very thought is sweet!
In that dear Name all heart-joys meet:
But, O than honey sweeter far
The glimpses of His presence are.

No word is sung more sweet than this,
No sound is heard more full of bliss,
No thought brings sweeter comfort nigh,
Than Jesus, SON OF GOD Most High.

Jesu, the hope of souls forlorn,

How good to them for sin that mourn! To them that seek Thee, O how kind! But what art Thou to them that find?

No tongue of mortal can express,
No pen can write the blessedness,
He only who hath proved it knows
What bliss from love of JESUS flows.

Abide with us, O Lord, to-day,
Fulfil us with Thy grace, we pray;
And with Thine own true sweetness feed
Our souls from sin and darkness freed.

The Zoology of the Bible.

THE LEOPARD.

MANY of the animals belonging to the cat tribe are handsome; but perhaps none more than

"The lively, shining leopard, speckled o'er With many a spot, the beauty of the waste."

In his native haunts, his movements are described as being in the highest degree easy and graceful, while his agility in bounding among rocks, and springing up trees, is quite amazing.

The spotted leopard seems widely distributed over Africa and Asia, and though the markings differ in different localities, it may be regarded as essentially a single species. By the Arabs of Syria, Arabia, and Nubia, this creature is called Nimr or el Nimr, which signifies the "spotted," or "varied." There is little doubt but this is the Namer of the Jews, and the Panthera of the ancients.

In the Bible, the leopard is frequently alluded to. From its fierceness, it is often associated with the lion; and, from the same character, emphasis is given to the description of the blessedness of the coming time by the declaration that even "the leopard shall lie down with the kid." There are allusions to its lying in wait near towns, and beside the public ways, to surprise unwary travellers, as well as to the acuteness of the animal, and to its spots. Solomon speaks of "the mountains of the leopards," and just as Lebanon was

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THE ZOOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.

tine, several names occur, which being formed from the name of the leopard, Nimr, appear to intimate that the localities indicated were the peculiar haunts of these animals. It is even not unlikely, that

"the mighty hunter," Nimrod, derived his name from this animal. In the prophets Hosea and Habakkuk, the leopard is alluded to; and in the last of the prophets, the vision of St. John, on Patmos, the beast which rose up out of was like unto a leopard." (Rev.

the sea xiii. 2.)

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The leopard has the habit of scratching the trunks of trees; an action common to most of the species of the feline race, and which may be daily witnessed in houses where cats, not having been corrected in their kittenhood, have been allowed to scratch the legs of the chairs and tables. The traveller may often judge of the presence of a leopard in his neighbourhood by finding these incisions to be freshly made. Mr. Darwin was shown, on the banks of the Uruguay, in South America, certain trees selected by the jaguar for this purpose; the bark on these was worn smooth, and on each side there were deep scratches, or grooves, nearly a yard in length. The natives say that in this way these animals sharpen their claws; but is is clear that it must have quite an opposite effect.

At the Cape there is a variety of the leopard more slender in the body, and differing from that in North Africa and Syria in the forms of the spots. This species preys chiefly on such of the antelopes as he can master, on baboons, and the curious pachyderm, or das, a species of the same genus as the coney of Scripture. It is not uncommon in the Cape Colony, and very frequently puts the farmer on the alert at night, who knows, by the low, half-smothered growl in the neighbourhood of his outhouses, that this elegant spotted savage is near him, and looks for an opportunity of pouncing on his sheep. Thomas Pringle, in his "Narrative of a Residence in South Africa," mentions his having frequently heard the leopard's voice on such occasions. Major Denham relates that the panthers of Mandara, in Central Africa, are as insidious as they are cruel. They have been known to watch a child

for hours, when near the protection of huts or people. They will spring on a grown person, when carrying a burden; but make their attack always from behind. The flesh of a child, or a young kid, they devour; but only suck the blood of any full-grown animal which may fall a prey to their ferocity. Although this fine cat has a considerable awe of man, and usually tries to avoid him, fet, as he is a very active and furious animal, when brought to bay he becomes a formidable antagonist. Mr. Pringle gives more than one instance of such attacks, and their danger. He relates that two African colonists, when returning to their farm from hunting antelopes, gave chase to a leopard, which they had roused in a mountain ravine. They here tried among the

"matted wood to tear

The skulking panther from his hidden lair,” and succeeded in forcing the beast to try to escape by clambering up a precipice. Being hotly pressed, and wounded by a ball, the leopard turned on his pursuers with frantic ferocity, and with one spring pulled the man who had fired at him to the ground, wounding his shoulder, and tearing his cheek severely at the same time. The companion of the farmer, in these lamentable circumstances, tried to shoot the leopard through the head, but unfortunately missed his aim. On this the leopard abandoned his prostrate victim, and pounced on his second antagonist with such rapidity, that before the Boor could draw his knife, the savage beast had struck him on the face with his claws, and, for the time, effectually blinded him. Notwithstanding this the hunter grappled with the leopard, and, while struggling, they both fell down a steep bank. The man who was first attacked, hastily reloaded his gun, and rushed forward to save his friend. The leopard, however, had seized his second victim by the throat, and mangled him in such a manner that death was inevitable; and the comrade, although himself severely wounded, had only the melancholy satisfaction of killing the ferocious cat, which was already nearly exhausted with the loss of blood from the wounds he had received.

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