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along the heavens; for then, amid the deep beech-woods, and on the common, I have seen such traces of love, beneficence, and wisdom, that my heart has glowed within me; and there, too, I have often listened to that small still voice, which seems to speak throughout the universe. It spake to Adam in the earliest spring-tide of the world-it speaks to you, reader! of whatever rank you are, whether among the great ones of the earth, or among those who assimilate in outward station with Him, who had not where to lay his head. It tells you something of the laws, by which myriads are regulated, of the instincts by which they are impelled, of that Almighty Power, who has placed you in this fair world to contemplate and adore his greatness. Happy are you, if you confess him in his works, the Creator in the things created; yet even these are but a little portion of his wonders. We now see them through a darkened glass, and hardly with searching can we comprehend a few of the most obvious; but a period will arrive, when the veil shall be removed, when the understanding of the redeemed shall be opened to comprehend the glories, and the wonders of creation, when they will know, even as they are known.

"Obtain, dear reader! a foretaste of these pleasures, endeavour to know something of his works, who has created, and sustains you. Listen not to the narrow counsels of those, who unthinkingly assert, that a taste for them will militate against such knowledge, as alone can make you wise unto salvation. Patriarchs and prophets rejoiced in the works of nature. David spoke of them in strains of gratitude and adoration your Lord has told you to observe the flowers of the field, the birds that fly along the heavens; He illustrates his most important truths by referring to a grain of corn, a vine, a mustard-seed, and will you disregard Him? Let it be daily your delight, to trace his beneficence in the visible creation, to adore, and to acknowledge Him in all his works; but stop not here-there are greater things than these, even that love to fallen man, of which the driving shower and loud wind in this dull season, the bright flowers of advancing spring, summer's cloudless skies, and the rich fields of autumn, may forcibly remind you." pp. 351-353. But we have too long delayed introducing our fourth monitress ; for we take full liberty to conclude that, in the Scripture Garden Walk, as well as in the Excursion round the Village, and the Lessons at the Parsonage, we are guided by a female instructor. Mrs. Sandford has simply and modestly guaranteed her useful lessons with her name; her companions have witheld theirs, not, we presume, as wishing to shrink from the responsibility they incur in presenting their performances to the public, but, perhaps, as intending silently to convey the maxim, that, the useful influence of women is best felt in quiet good deeds, rather than in public pretensions.

The bow, we have said, cannot always be bent; but the writer of the Scripture Garden Walk has shewn us that, even the relaxations of a Christian will be redolent of Christianity. A garden is connected with images of repose; yet even there will sorrow intrude, for, as a garden was the scene of the first sin, so neither its mossy shades nor its joysome flowers can exclude sorrow: "There was a garden, and in it was a sepulchre;" and if our contemplatist has formed in it a temple also, and dedicated it to the praise of Him who crowns all things with goodness, she proves that it is not less the gate of paradise, because of its being the school of instruction. Her garden, as she herself, or her elegant prefacer, remarks, would be unattractive to those who would have preferred walking with Adam in Eden after Adam ceased to walk with God, to repairing with Christ to the garden of Gethsemane; but to those who would follow their Saviour, the Scripture Garden Walk presents a scene where the thoughts of the pious and the peaceful may find refreshing repose, and, perhaps be enabled to taste before-hand of the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. The object of the work is to take in alphabetical order the names of the various trees and vegetable productions mentioned in the Bible, introducing them with a botanical description, followed by the most striking scriptural allusions to them, and interspersed with various incidental notices, and useful and devout reflections, and with many truly pleasing effusions of sacred poetry, which constitute by far the most interesting portion of the volume. With regard to the scientific CHRIST. OBSERV. APP.

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history of the Bible, we can only repeat what we remarked in our review of Mr. Carpenter and Mrs. Copley's Scripture Natural History (Christian Observer for 1830, p. 637), that it seems impossible to ascertain, minutely, what particular plants, animals, and minerals, were intended in those ancient writings; nor is it necessary, either for truth or spiritual edification that we should be able to do so. That learned but eccentric antiquary, Sir Thomas Browne, wrote a grave and elaborate treatise "On the Fishes eaten by our Saviour with his Disciples after his Resurrection," which could only be a plea for a dissertation on oriental edible fishes; and great uncertainty must attend all but the more common names of animals, vegetables, and various substances mentioned, and perhaps but once, in the sacred records. Without, therefore, hoping to know how far the hortus siccus of our authoress corresponds in its details with that of Solomon, whose botanical skill extended from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, we shall give a single specimen of her collection, regretting that our waning space will not allow of more, and, reserving to ourselves the pleasures of presenting to our readers a few of her poetical bouquets at some future opportunity, in another department of our work. We take casually, the account of the Aloe, which occurs nearly the first in alphabetical order.

"ALOE.-Aloe. Calix-none. Corolla-one-petaled, erect, with an expanded mouth and a nectareous base. Pericarp-oblong capsule, three-celled. Seeds-several. Root-perennial.

"This plant is the indigenous product of all hot climates, though some are more favourable to its growth than others. There are several species noticed in Scripture. Calmet tell us that the true aloes tree (the flowers of which are yellow, and the leaves nearly a foot long) is a native of more eastern parts of the globe than Judæa. It is described in height and form as resembling the olive. Three varieties of wood are to be found under the bark; the inmost consisting of the most delicate fibres, is employed in the perfuming of apartments, dresses, &c., the fragrance it emits being very exquisite. This scented wood is considered in the East to be of inestimable value, which in part may be attributable to its extreme rarity, and in part to the various uses to which it is applicable. And it deserves to be remarked that the Siamese ambassadors, in 1686, presented some of it to the court of France. Its properties resemble in many respects the sandal wood. From aloe (a plant or herb) is extracted a very bitter liquor used for embalming and preserving the bodies of the dead. The leaves of this species are thick and prickly; the flower produces a white kernel.

“Numb. xxiv. 6: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! as the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river side, as the trees of lign aloes, which the Lord hath planted,' &c.; or as ahalim trees which the Lord hath planted. The aloe being rare in Arabia, and the countries round, the Rabbins translate ahalim, 'santal.' The Vulgate renders the passage 'as tents which the Lord hath spread.'

"Psalm xlv. 8: 'All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad.'

"Canticles iv. 14: Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.'

"The honour which has been given to this plant, by its being made one of the precious drugs imparting its odours to the garments of the consort of Christ-the Church in her full beauty of holiness-will not allow us to dismiss the subject without the homage of a short meditation; nor can we satisfy ourselves without calling upon the reader to listen awhile to that tongue of the ready writer, which has so exquisitely expressed the dictates of the inspired heart. What power of language could have rai sed in our minds a more appropriate idea of the majesty, the sweetness, the consolations, and the privileges of the Messiah's spouse, than that which has thus described her garments as dispersing around them a breathing fragrance, filling all the atmosphere, and refreshing the spirits of her votaries? Who can read this holy epithalamium, and think of this beauteous bride issuing from her ivory palaces, and inviting the bridegroom to visit her fountains of gardens, her wells of living waters and streams from Lebanon, all glorious within and without, dispensing refreshment and delight, the odours of grace and sanctification, without calling upon the north wind and upon the south,' in the language of the Canticles, to blow upon that garden, that the spices therof may flow out.'

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From underneath each spot He treads,
Ye swelling seeds that buried lie,
Rise glorious from your teeming beds,
And spread your beauties to the sky:
Will not the spouse his coming greet,
And lay all summer at his feet?

The Bridegroom to his garden moves,
Fountains, unseal your sparkling stores,
With reverence bend your tops, ye groves;
Earth, reverence Him whom Heaven
adores;

Ask ye where now those flowers bloom?
The ransomed spirits tell you where-
Beyond the frowning desert's gloom
They see a landscape bright and fair,
The rose of Sharon meets their view,
And breezes fresh with Hermon's dew.
Hasting to Zion as they move,
'Faint yet pursuing,' oft they feel
A secret impulse from above,
O'er their reviving senses steal,
An odour of sweet dropping gums,
As from the tree of life it comes.
O for that aromatic air,

That when my mortal pilgrimage
Has run its course through foul and fair,
And gasping reaches its last stage,
May whispering tell my soul to rise,
To meet the gales of Paradise.

In sign of worship, all ye trees, Bend conscious of the loaded breeze. O could we find those spicy bowers, Where the spouse wont to meet her Lord; O that the frankincense were ours, Aloes and myrrh, and cassia stored, Breathing the perfume of that name, Whence all their borrow'd fragrance came! "John xix. 39: There came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight; then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices.' This intention of preserving that sacred body, the incorruptibility of which David had predicted above a thousand years before, and the resurrection of which Christ himself had recently foreshown, indicates the same 'slowness to believe,' which the risen Saviour afterwards reproved." pp. 6-11.

If, after this excursion amidst the glowing scenery of an oriental garden, hallowed as the similitude of spiritual consolations, the reader can deign to return to an English village, and leave his fireside on a December morning to follow our village annalist in her winter's walk, he may learn from her 66 Calendar of Nature," that even this dreary month is not without its pleasing associations. We think it likely, also, that this village walk will induce some of our younger readers to follow their instructress through a few more of her rambles.

"DECEMBER.

"The cherish'd fields

Put on their winter-robe of purest white:

'Tis brightness all, save where the new snow melts

Along the mazy current. Low the woods

Bow their hoar heads; and, ere the languid sun,
Faint from the west, emits his evening ray,
Earth's universal face, deep hid and chill,

Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide
The works of man.'

THOMSON.

"Reader! there is much in this dull month to interest you, to call forth the best affections of the heart, to cause you to think of Him, who appoints the stormy winds and driving shower to fulfil his purposes of love.

"Have you never thought, that without these cloudy days, that driving sleet, and fierce east wind, of which you often so unreasonably complain, that the valleys could not be filled with corn, nor the pastures with increase; that like the ups and downs, the crosses and privations of this changing state, they are the harbingers of fruitful seasons, to fill your heart with gladness and thanksgiving?

"This is a season of repose throughout the vegetable world, the business of the spade and plough is equally suspended; there may be little to amuse you in the fading landscape but then that little is so fraught with outward signs of wisdom and beneficence, that the heart, which does not feel some interest in beholding them, must be indifferent to the wonders of creation.

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"Even at this cold season, a few solitary plants look green and pleasant in the hedges. There is neither earing nor harvest, the corn is laid up in the barn, and the autumnal fruits are gathered in; but that Almighty Being, without whose permission not even a sparrow falls to the ground, is attentive to the privations of these helpless creatures, and remembers them in mercy.

"The common groundsel (senecio vulgaris) affords a ready supply of food to most of the winter birds. This hardy perennial grows wherever its slender fibrous roots can penetrate the earth. If the snow freezes on the leaves, when the sun arises, or the soft south wind begins to blow, its greenness revives, and that degree of damp which injures every other kind of esculent plant, but slightly affects it. The chickweed (stellaria

graminea) is also a citizen of the vegetable kingdom. It grows in almost every situa tion, from damp and boggy woods to the driest gravel-walks, and is consequently subject to great variations. The severities of winter do not even interrupt its vegetative powers. It produces ripe seeds within eight weeks from the period of their being sown, and is thus renovated seven or eight times, during the course of the season. When the seeds are fully ripe, the six-valved capsule becomes reversed, and discharges them upon the earth. Some are sown where they fall, others are scattered by the wind, and the rain forces them into the soft mould, whence they rapidly re-appear, and thus ensure, throughout the year, a plentiful support for the smaller birds. "This simple plant is also an excellent barometer. When its little white flowers open fully in the morning, no rain is likely to fall for some hours; when balf concealed, we have showery weather; but if shut up, and covered with its green leafy mantle, reader! you will do well to stay at home.

"The ivy, the dark growing ivy, the holly with polished leaves, and berries red,' berry-bearing thorns and brambles, are still employed, in ministering to those poor way-faring creatures that fly along the heavens. I have also observed, in severe snowy weather, that the thrush kind search out the warm and pungent root of the cuckoopint, when growing on the dry hedge-banks, and that they eagerly attack the ripe berries of the wild briar, which hang late upon the leafless branches.

"The woods are stripped with the wintry winds,

And faded the flowers that bloom'd on the lea;

But one lingering gem the wanderer finds,

'Tis the ruby fruit of the wild-briar tree.

The strong have bowed down, the beauteous are dead;
The blast through the forest sighs mournfully;

And bared is full many a lofty head;

But there's fruit on the lowly wild-briar tree.

It has cheer'd yon bird, that, with gentle swell,
Sings, What are the gaudy flowers to me?
For here will I build my nest, and dwell

By the simple, and faithful, wild-briar tree!”

"Our winter plants possess, in common with their Alpine brethren, that faculty of generating organic heat, which enables them to endure the severest cold. Many are so fragile and so delicate, so minute, and even liable to be broken by fierce winds, that their preservation cannot he attributed to any rigidity of the fibres, or sap vessels. No; they owe to that latent heat, their preservation and their increase. The thermometer often rises when applied to certain species; and all are warmer, by some degrees, than the atmospheric air. Seeds, also, that remain unburied on the earth, are thus preserved from the effect of cold. Nor less extraordinary is the check given to the flowing of the sap, and to the growth of trees, by the benumbing influence of winter. This is the real cause of those circles, that beautifully diversify the wood, that appear on cutting a tree across, and silently attest, how many seasons have passed by, since it emerged from an acorn, nut, or mast. These circles are most numerous towards the north; there, too, the bark is thickest, and moss and hoary lichens most abundant. By such indications, Indian hunters often direct their steps across the interminable forests of the new world. Nor less surprising is it, that in the colder climates, many of our forest trees, as, for example, the ash and horse-chesnut, produce the embryo of their leaves and flowers in one year, and bring them to perfection in the next. A winter consequently intervenes. But how wonderfully are the trials and privations of that stern season provided for! these tender embryos are, in the first place, wrapped up with a compactness, which no art can imitate, and in this state they compose the bud. The bud itself is enclosed in scales, which are formed from the remains of past leaves, and the rudiments of future ones. Neither is this all. In the boreal regions, a third preservative is added; the tender bud is covered with a coat of gum or resin, that resists the hardest frost. On the approach of spring, this gum is softened, and ceases to hinder the expansion of the leaves and flowers. All this betokens a system of provision, which has, for its object, the production and perfecting of the seeds." pp. 337-342.

"Reader! let this great truth be solemnly impressed on your mind, God has made nothing in vain: it is a clue that will safely conduct you through many intricate mazes in the great system of nature, as far, at least, as it is permitted to finite beings to explore them. In many instances we are unable to comprehend the intention of the Deity with regard to the construction of his creatures; in others, their uses are so obvious, that they cannot be mistaken. For my own part, I confess, that when I see the common snail, slowly ascending the cavernous trunk of some aged tree, or climbing up a garden wall, without the aid of wings or feet, ropes or pullies, solely by means of the viscid humour discharged from his skin, and consider the secret spark of life which he possesses, I fear for his safety. But in this, as well as in innumerable

instances, where we look for absolute destitution, and can reckon upon nothing but wants,' when some admirable contrivance amply compensates for every apparent deprivation, my mind is carried up to the praise and adoration of that great Being, whose wisdom, beneficence, and power, are thus conspicuous in the humblest of his works. "There is, still, another lesson to be learned in this sharp month; other objects that may well invite us to look within, and see, if we, like them, are meekly bearing, the privations of this changing scene." pp. 346, 347.

From garden walks and village excursions we must now, under Mrs. Sandford's auspices, conduct back the wives and daughters who honour our pages with their perusal to their fire-side, and their duties in their “social and domestic character." We can transcribe only a few of their excellent monitress's instructions. In her interesting chapter on the illustrations of female character in the sacred Scriptures, she says:

"The manner in which woman is noticed in the practical parts of Scripture accords with the place she is allowed to hold in the Christian economy. The precepts which are to regulate female conduct are equally precise with those which apply to the other sex, and the examples equally instructive.

"We cannot, indeed, but be peculiarly struck with the natural and appropriate, as well as beautiful delineation of female character in Scripture. No point is overcharged, no virtue exaggerated. The portrait is the more affecting because it is so like. It is the gentle, tender, and feeling woman whom we meet with in real life; and though the sublime situations in which she is placed, as well as the language and imagery of Scripture, invest the heroine of the Bible with a peculiar charm; she is not so highly raised above ordinary circumstances, as not to provoke our sympathy, and invite our imitation.

"On this account the illustrations of the sacred volume are of the highest value. The female Christian, who is familiar with them, needs few other models. Besides the chasteness and simplicity which characterise these examples, there is a detail about them which is not only graphically true, but practically instructive. It is not merely by their prophetic visions, or inspired songs, that we are made acquainted with the feinale worthies of the ancient church; we converse with them in their homes: we see them in the discharge of family and social functions; and we find, in general, that those who were the most highly honoured by Divine favour, were the most blameless and amiable, according to our ideas of female excellence.

"The Bible might, therefore, be recommended, were it only for its moral illustrations; and those who think lightly of its mysteries are often not without appreciation of its value in this point of view. but mutilation, whilst it robs the Christian system of its beauty, spoils its effect. There is no part independent of another; take it in its perfect gradation, the harmony is complete; but the abstraction of a single principle cannot be without prejudice to the whole." pp. 79, 80.

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Speaking of "the importance of religion to woman (women)-though after all its chief importance hangs on the solemn word salvation, and not merely on its subsidiary benefits - Mrs. Sandford remarks:

"A woman's virtues must be genuine. They are to expand, not in the sunshine, but in the shade. And, therefore, they need some vital principle to supply the place of foreign excitement. Religion is this influence,-this germ of every grace, this sap which finds its way through every fibre, and emits the fairest blossoms without the aid of artificial heat.

"The pious woman courts retirement. She seeks not the inertness of quietism, but the calmness and regularity of domestic duty. And though she may sometimes be called to less congenial scenes, and she will neither refuse the summons, nor shew a peevish reluctance to obey it; yet her taste is home! for there she feels she is most useful, most happy, and has most communion with her God.

"And it is the domesticating tendency of religion that especially prepossesses men in its favour, and makes them, even if indifferent to it themselves, desire it, at least, in their nearest female connections. They can securely confide in one, who is under its sober influence, and whose duties and pleasures lie within the same sphere. They feel no jealousy of a sentiment, which, however intense, interferes with no legitimate affection; but which makes a woman more tender, more considerate, and more sympathising, thar the most ardent passion of romance would do, or the most studied polish of the world.

"But her piety must be sterling. It must be no latent form of a still restless ambition, that has exchanged the glitter of fashion for the tinsel of profession; that still finds its pleasure in a crowd, and, weary of the turmoil of the world, seeks some new and more exciting stimulus. This may indeed pass current for piety; and as it borrows from religion its lustre, so does it often recompence it with the tarnish of its faults. But that sentiment is ever suspicious that leads woman from home, rather

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