-the vast trunks which had been pollarded, but how long ago we pretend not to guess, were less remarkable for elevation, than for their enormous circumference, and their singularly contorted figure, as if the winds had wrenched them round during their growth of centuries. One we measured was about eight yards in circumference, and others were as large. From these trunks, twisted and wrenched and gnarled, with the bark rugged and fissured, rose up mighty limbs, themselves large trees, sometimes almost straight, sometimes contorted and warped by the winds, so as to continue the wild grotesque features of the trunk. Numbers of these limbs towering aloft formed a full head of dense foliage. The roots boldly starting out of the ground, rough and angular, and twisted in all directions, ran in various ways for yards around;-the ground was covered with the dried fragments of last year's beechmast. On examining the enormous trunks of these trees we found them for the most part hollow; into some we might enter, but others, though probably also hollow, had no apparent opening. Yet, hollow as these trunks were, nothing could exceed the healthy appearance and vigour of the solid limbs, nor the luxuriance of the foliage. Time had crumbled the once solid heart of these trunks to dust, -but the outer layers of wood still remained sound, and a thick covering of living bark, carrying on the circulation of the sap to the giant limbs, was in pristine activity. Names and initials once deeply carved on it, bearing dates from 1720 to 1750, were now almost obliterated by its progressive growth, and were with difficulty deciphered. Bearing as these hollow trunks did, such a ponderous load, we felt that the tempest might tear off the massive branches before it could prostrate their parent pedestal. They have been tested-they have defied the storms of winters for centuries-they have withstood the tempest which has overthrown others around them; the strong wind has rocked their branches -but there they stand-time-honoured trunks, which have seen the raven grow old, and the eagle cease to renew his youth. Who can tell their age!--when they were slender saplings, like hazel-wands, the Red King may have hunted the deer in the forest around them—nay, they may have seen the days, when the Saxon power had not succumbed to the Norman; and a Saxon noble may have chased the wolf and the wild boar which lurked in the depths of the forest, or the wild bull who headed his herd in the glade. But time passed on-the woodsman, with "his broad bright axe" who looked upon these mighty trees when saplings, little dreamed as he lopped the forest branches, of the time when they should stand in their stern majesty, the survivors of centuries,-when, if trees had tongues, they could tell of changes in language and in laws, of successions of kings-of events recorded by history's erring pencil-of civil wars-and of the progress of a great nation from rudeness to civilization-from the darkness of superstition to the light of truth. Time passed on,-the woodman with "his broad bright axe," slept with his fathers, and generation after generation succeeded; but still the trunks stand,—not now saplings, but forest Anakims. passes on-and if the hand of man levels not these venerable sylvan monuments of antiquity, centuries may elapse ere they slowly yield to decay. Yet the time must come when they shall perish Time when the still vigorous bark shall dry and wither, and the wood crumble to dust. From being slender rods, they slowly reached their prime-the next steps lead from their prime to their decay. Emblems they of mighty empires, Babylonish or Roman, which rose, attained to power and splendour, and at length declined and fell! Do They read also unto ourselves a moral; we too are passing away; and these trees which existed long before our birth shall endure when our race is run. not the leaves whisper,-"The days of man's years are 'threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away.' Happy is the Christian whose hopes are not bounded by timeand who, as he walks in the fields, can regard the flowers at his feet as "Emblems of our own great resurrection Emblems of the bright and better land." As we sat on a gnarled root under one of the overshadowing beech-trees, with trains of thought such as we have just written passing through our mind, a beautiful little squirrel darted by, and nimbly ascending a neighbouring beech, soon gained its branches; the sight roused the naturalist in us, and we watched it, as in playfulness it ran along the boughs with its tail raised up and arched, as if to try its own dexterity,its dark eyes sparkled with liveliness, and every action was easy and confident. At first it did not perceive us; but when it was aware of our near presence it mounted aloft, and was hidden by the thick foliage. From time to time the plaintive, but hoarse cooing of the wood-pigeon was heard; and several were seen hurrying on through the trees, or disappearing among them. It would seem that the green woodpecker is not uncommon here;—as we were walking along, one of these elegant birds left the turf, and with undulating flight went off towards the wood; we had probably alarmed it while feeding upon ants, for which it is in the habit of visiting the ground; and we observed that ants' nests were very abundant. Five hundred years ago, the squirrel, and the wood-pigeon, and the green woodpecker, tenanted as now, this woodland. How wonderfully throughout all changes, and the succession of generations, the order of nature is maintained! With this order man is permitted to interfere; yet, while the works of his hands perish, while cities, and towers, and temples, fall into ruin, -the face of nature is renovated, the flowers return in spring, the birds build their nests, the lively squirrel plays on the beech-tree, and whatever of nature is to-day, also came to pass five-hundred years ago. SAVING POWER. M. I KNOW no display of power like the power of Christ displayed in the conversion of the soul! To subdue mind under any circumstances, demands a power unspeakably surpassing that which is required to effect the mightiest mechanical operation. Give me but certain data, and I can calculate the power that will be necessary to break down a fortressto raise a mountain-to propel a world; but who can calculate the power necessary for the subduing of a single mind? You reason; the judgment is not convinced. You heap up arguments; stronger You prejudice is excited against you. adduce motives of hope and fear; the will is still unmoved, except perhaps to exasperation. You put forth all the powers of persuasion; so much the more is resistance resolved. You bring brute force to aid you, surrounding him whom you would subdue by armed men; you may tear the flesh, crush the bone, lacerate the nerve, sear the eyeball, hack limb from limb; groans are extorted, but the mind is unsubdued. Even should you force confession, the mind is unsubdued. But of all states of mind, that of depravity is most difficult to subdue. Lust, appetite, self-indulgence; avarice, ambition, pride; habits long formed, dispositions inherent; enmity to God, deep-seated and inveterate; are the obstacles. Every heart presented all these obstacles. In some there was a special licentiousness-habits of more than ordinary obstinacy-hostility beyond measure bitter. Yet on such has Jesus brought his truth to act; on such he has operated by the agency of his Spirit; such he has called from the midst of scenes where all was unfriendly, hostile, to him. Thus a new creation has been effected; repentance weeping from eyes that had grown impudent in sin; faith confessing Christ with lips that had blasphemed his name: appetite subdued where it had been rampant; purity taking the place of pollution; love, of enmity; zeal, of hostility. To have seen the lion eating straw beside the ox, the wolf sporting with the lamb, the cockatrice feeding the suckling, would have been less wonderful. Yet this spectacle has been exhibited in every age, in every region, in every conversion. This is the mighty power of God. With this spectacle before us we may well ask, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Nothing is required but the universal extension of the same means, and the more abundant diffusion of the same Divine agency, for the world's conversion. No new economy is requisite. No diverse operation is requisite. No miracle is requisite. Let there be but a general application where we have now a limited one-a general effusion where now we have a limited one-and the world will be converted. Jew and Gentile, heathen and Mohammedan, learned and illiterate, rulers and subjects, have been converted; men of all climes, men of every peculiarity, men of all forms of depravity, have been converted. We want but the fuller outpouring of the Spirit on the church | comed, for Jesus' sake. Hazardous posts and the world, and a universal conversion shall be effected. It would be easy to adduce multiplied examples of promise and prophecy, warranting us to expect the effusion and the result. Our Lord's commission itself is a sufficient warrant: it commanded the preaching of the gospel to every creature; it extended in its authority to the end of the world; it comprised a promise of the Saviour's omnipresent and omnipotent aid. The ascension of Christ is connected with the promise of universal subjugation, "From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Till this grand result shall be accomplished must he sit at the right hand of God. His exaltation is to be followed by universal confession: "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow;-that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Ancient prophecy is most explicit,-"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."* "They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Amid many mystic exhibitions of the closing book of the New Testament, we have also the clear prediction of a universal reign of religion. Great voices proclaim-"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."§ us. Realize the operation of saving power in its final and long-continued triumphs. The Spirit is poured from on high upon Believers are filled with love and power. The noblest talents are consecrated. Wealth deems its highest honour and privilege to be in works of zeal. Great is the company of them that publish the word. Prayer is unceasing, earnest, enlarged. Every sermon is followed by numerous conversions. Every hearer becomes a herald in his own neighbourhood. The multitude fly as a cloud, as doves to their windows, hearkening to the word preached. Conversions are multiplied. Towns and provinces become pervaded. Persecution is borne, wel are contended for. Missionaries go forth -not two to Benares, and a score to all India, but in congregated hundreds, bearing their riches with them. The heathen see an obvious earnestness, that tells on their minds, prepared by the cooler and slower processes of earlier labours. Multitudes are pricked in heart. Crowds are baptized. Idols are cast to the bats and the moles. The false prophet is forsaken. Jesuits and propagandists are forsaken. Kings and queens submit to discipleship, not pretending to lord it over God's heritage. Guilty passions are subdued. Oppression, cruelty, war, cease. The nominal churches of Christendom are purified. Reaction is experienced throughout the church. Zeal more earnest, prayer more enlarged, spirituality more pure, are followed by larger, and still larger influences of grace. For wood, there is iron—for brass, silver-for silver, gold. The moonlight chill is succeeded by meridian blaze; the meridian light and warmth is augmented sevenfold. The fruitful field is counted for a forest; and is succeeded by the beauty of Eden. The arm of the Lord is made bare, and all men recognise it. His arm is made bare, and Satan is bound a thousand years. All the universe looks on, admiring and adoring the saving power; the song of heaven is heard in sweetest modulation, in loudest ecstasy: "Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"-Rev. John Ely. PALANQUIN BEARERS. I OUGHT to mention, (says the Rev. T. Acland,) the chant of the palanquinbearers; though they keep to the same sing-song tune, yet they generally invent the words as they go along. I will give a sample, as well as I could make it out, of what my bearers sang the other night; I have tried to render their words as nearly as I could into English, so as to preserve the metre. The poetry must be improved. A palkee means a palanquin: it is the Hindustanee word, though one also generally used in conversation. Each line is sung in a different voice; in the following, for instance, the first line would be sung in the usual voice, the second very high, the third in a sort of gruff tone: "Oh, what a heavy bag! No; it's an elephant: Then let's make haste and get along, And then, suiting the action to the word, off they set in a nasty jog-trot which rattled every bone in my body, keeping chorus all the time of "Jump along quick, jump along quick," until they were obliged to stop for laughing. The second sample is from the men who carried Mrs. Acland, and is in quite a different metre. I must tell you that "cubbadar" means "take care," and "baba,' (pronounced "barba,") means young lady:" 1. "She's not heavy, Cubbadar! Little baba, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! 2. "Trim the torches, For the road's rough, Here the bridge is, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! 3. "Carry her gently, Cubbadar! Little baba, Cubbadar! Sing so cheerily, Cubbadar! Pretty baba, Cubbadar! Cubbadar! Cubbadar!" HEART REVOLUTIONS. 66 THESE are times for thought. The world is in a transition state. Great events are constantly and suddenly transpiring. It is a poor philosophy that cannot recognise the hand of God in human history. In that history many chapters have been written during the past few months. Many a man, who had hitherto passed through life with few thoughts beyond those necessary to guide conduct in the supply of physical wants, has been compelled to cast his eyes abroad, and widen the range of his cogitations. The nations have been shaken, and many a worldling has felt his foothold trembling, while his heart was moved with the involuntary impression that the pleasures and honours of the world are but too aptly pictured by a midnight dream. The serenity of the real Christian, we doubt not, has been envied of late by not a few who would deem it weakness to confess the fact. Nevertheless, it is an enviable truth, that "His hand the good man fastens on the sky, And bids earth roll, nor feels the idle noise." An inspired poet enunciated the sublime idea many centuries ago; and Luther in his troubles, as well as many good men both before and since his time, used to read it," God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." The faith that can appropriate this language is a source of consolation which the agitations of empires cannot shake. The Redeemer has placed it before us by very striking imagery, as the conclusion of his Divine sermon on the mount: "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Before this happy security-this blissful serenity : amidst change, convulsion, and storm can be realized, however, there is a certain kind of revolution in the human breast rendered necessary: this we shall call heart revolution. Notwithstanding much that has been written by philosophers, poets, and sentimentalists, about man's "individualism,' his musings, his mental aspirations, his solitude, even in society, and his self communings, we hazard the opinion that there is no subject of contemplation on which men are so reluctant to enter, as that of the real state of their own hearts in view of immortality, and in the sight of God! Without producing argument in justification of this opinion, as perhaps its correctness will not be called in question by the reader, we shall assume it, and found upon that assumption the first reason for the heart revolution in question. It is well known that reluctance to examine any subject in which a man's consciousness assures him that he is deeply interested arises from one of two causes, neither of which he can justify to himself, either indolence, or a mental foreboding that the subject will not bear strict examination, that is, that the result of the examination would be anything but satisfactory to his own mind. This indolence in a matter of such moment no man can pretend to justify, whatever amount of excuses we may plead regarding domestic or secular engagements. Indolence in the spiritual region must be sinful; for, however important domestic or secular engagements may be, it is impossible that they can be successfully urged in palliation of the neglect of that which belongs to the first and highest duty of an immortal being. It is imperative on any thinking being first to prove immortality a fable, before he ventures to trifle with the state of his heart. But if, on the other hand, there be a foreboding that introspection would demonstrate a disordered heart-a heart needing revolution, this-instead of deterring a wise man from the discharge of the painful duty, would be deemed by him an urgent argument for immediate examination. But the Scriptures of truth have made the matter so plain, and have enforced the duty of attending to it under such fearful sanctions, that the trouble of reasoning it out is rendered unnecessary. The word of God, our only guide on spiritual matters, has left no room to doubt about it. It uniformly declares that the human heart is corrupt, defiled, estranged from God, sinful, deceitful, and desperately wicked. The meaning of these epithets obviously conveys the idea of great danger, and suggests the necessity of a great change, a complete revolution, for the purpose of avoiding the threatened danger. If the powers of the heart be alienated from the service of God, who has, without controversy, a right to the service of all his creatures, this alienated property must be restored to its rightful owner, before the man can be either in a safe or an honourable position. There must be a change of heart, the man must be born again, must become a new creature in Christ Jesus, must pass from death unto life, must be born from above, in short, must experience a heart revolution. This is the teaching of Scripture on the subject; and as the inspired descriptions of man's sinful condition are given expressly for the purpose of arousing his attention and drawing his mind towards the remedy which God has graciously provided for him, it follows that the teaching of Scripture ought to receive undivided and serious thought, until the necessary change has been experienced. It will be a happy thing if this change of rulers which is taking place on a large scale throughout the nations, in consequence of revolutions, should lead individuals to inquire whether they are serving the right master, Christ, having their fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life, or whether they are serving the usurper, Satan, yielding themselves servants unto iniquity, and procuring the wages of sin, which is death. Such an improvement of the events of the day would be hailed by witnessing angels with joy, and whilst they carried the glad tidings to the future home of the righteous, they would cause gladness among its happy inhabitants. There are two questions which may be proposed here, for the guidance of those who may draw this important inference from the events alluded to, namely, how may this change be effected? and how may forgiveness for past rebellion be obtained? The power of the Holy Spirit, by the instrumentality of the gospel, effects the great change in question. It is His peculiar province and prerogative to take of the things that belong to the ascended Saviour, and effectually to work by these in the heart of the humbled sinner. To resist His gracious influences, therefore, is at once to add stubbornness to sin, and to prolong that state of alienation from God to which reference has been already made. But, on the other hand, ready submission to His suggestions, made through the gospel, and seconded by the |