once get power, she will show herself to be still unchanged. The book before us tells the facts of her history and doings, and sets her in her proper light before the mind. Here she shows herself in her true colours, and without the gloss that false charity would try to cast about her. "LECTURES TO WORKING MEN," by Mr. Conder, of Leeds, and published by Green, in a stirring book, and calculated, we think, to suit the classes it addresses, and guard their minds against the influence of infidelity whenever it may be spreading amongst them. We know that in their delivery they excited great attention and were productive of much good. Our space is now filled up, and we must leave notice of other works to a coming month. Chapter of Varieties. EARLY RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. Thelwall thought it very unfair to influence a child's mind by inculcating any opinions before it should come to years of discretion, and be able to choose for itself. "I showed him my garden," says Coleridge, "and told him it was my botanical garden." "How so?" said he; "it is covered with weeds." "Oh!" I replied, "that is because it has not yet come to its age of discretion and choice. The weeds, you see, have taken the liberty to grow, and I thought it unfair to prejudice the soil towards roses and strawberries." Dr. Dwight thus speaks of the importance of early religious training: "The great truths of religion should be taught so early, that the mind should never remember when it began to learn, or when it was without this knowledge. Whenever it turns a retrospective view upon the preceding periods of its existence, these truths should always seem to have been in its possession, to have the character of innate principles, to have been inwoven in its nature, and to constitute a part of all its current thinking." A BOY REPROVED BY A BIRD. When quite young in my boyish days, I had watched some sparrows carrying materials to build their nest (in the usual season) under the eaves of a cottage adjoining our own; and, although strict orders had been issued that none of us should climb up to the roof of the house, yet birds' eggs formed a temptation too powerful to be resisted, and self-gratification was considered rather than obedience. A favourable opportunity presenting itself, the roof of the house was ascended, and not only was the nest pillaged, but seized and carried away. It was soon stripped of its unnecessary appendages, that it might appear as neat as possible. Among the externals thus removed, was a piece of paper, which had been a page of one of Dr. Watts's hymn books, and which, thrown away, had been taken by the poor bird for the hear refined language in the pulpit, without any expressions that tend to excite levity or wonder-without any cant phrases, or words that nobody else ever heard. W. But was there nothing which deserved commendation - no good lessons inculcated? Did you hear nothing by which you might be profited? X.-Why-yes-it was a pretty good sermon, taken as a whole, and there were good ideas advanced, but somehow there was a kind of repulsiveness about it that I did not like. W.-Well, would it not be better to get rid of this criticising spirit, and when you hear a sermon, endeavour to get some good from it? Had the bird been able to read and reason, it could not have selected a text more appropriate for reproof and instruction than this. What was contrived and done "in secret," was thus condemned from the housetop. At all events, it can do your readers no harm to remind them that HOW TO TURN PUBLIC EVENTS TO when they do wrong, God sees them, and can send them reproof even by means of a bird. I have not forgotten the lesson presented to me by the leaf of paper which had been fixed to the nest of a poor sparrow. -Youth's Magazine. A COLLOQUY. ACCOUNT. There is a class of persons who have a happy knack of turning everything to account-what they see and hear, do and suffer. There are those who never take a walk of recreation but they meet with something by the way, which has proved a monitor to them. There are those W.-How were you pleased with who read the records of public events the sermon this afternoon? X.-I do not like the manner of your minister in the pulpit. His voice is harsh and too monotonous. And he is too much confined to his manuscript, and appears as devoutly as they do the New Testament. To that class belonged good John Newton, so celebrated for simplicity and love, common sense and native wit. Mr. Newton was wont to say he read the newspaper W. But I asked you about the to see how his heavenly Father was sermon, not the preacher? governing the world. All news ought to be sanctified. There is not a subject of public record that does not connect itself with some point of scripture, as tending to illustrate providence or grace. X.-There was too much wandering away from his subject. The illustrations were not always appropriate, and the language sometimes bordered on the vulgar. I like to FLOWERS OF THE HOLY LAND. WE start this month with our descriptions of the flowers of the Holy Land growing about our British homes, either as cultivated in our gardens, or found wild in our woods and fields. We suppose some of our young readers have taken the hints given last month, and with book, press, and all the other apparatus prepared, are now ready to begin the work of forming bible herbariums. At this season of the year, however, but few flowers of scripture note are found in bloom, and their first work will be rather with sprays and leaves, than blossoms. Perhaps this is just as well to start with, as they are most easily dried and arranged, and being few in number, will give opportunity for a more leisurely examination of each, with its scripture references. [FEBRUARY, 1851. BIBLE CLASS MAGAZINE.] C Now is as good a time as any for gathering sprays of the Cedar of Lebanon, the Fir, the Cypress, the Juniper, the Pine, and the Bay. The Box might also be gathered, but it will be better to wait till it shall be in bloom. All these are evergreens, and may be found in all parts of our island; in some, growing with great luxuriance and beauty. The Juniper grows wild in some places, and the Fir, the Pine, the Bay, and the Box, are all to be found in our woods and cottage gardens. The only plants here named, about which any difficulty will be found, we apprehend, are the Cedar of Lebanon and the oriental Cypress. But even these are so common in gentlemen's grounds now, that a civil application to their gardener will generally be successful in securing the sample spray required for the specimen sought. We must refer our readers to the directions given last month about the way of drying and preserving the specimens, and hope they will not only collect them, but carry out our plan of searching their bibles for the passages they may be found to illustrate. The chief, if not the only, flower blooming commonly amongst us, and of bible note, to be secured this month, is the Almond, a drawing of which stands at the head of this paper. Of this beautiful plant we have several varieties now common in our gardens and shrubberies, some of which are trees, others low shrubs, and varying in colour from snowwhite to deep pink, but all very similar in the form and character of their blossoms. Perhaps in no country is the Almond tree (Amygdalus communis) more abundant than in Palestine and other parts of Syria. There it grows wild in great luxuriance, and by its sprays of pink blossoms, in early spring, gives beauty and life to many deeply interesting scripture scenes. In the neighbourhood of Sidon, about the ancient Sychem, on Mount Carmel, amongst the hills surrounding the sea of Tiberias, and many other consecrated spots, it grows in great profusion, and hangs out its glowing blossoms almost before stern winter has retired. In Palestine, the early part of February, and in Britain, the end of February, and on into March, is the period of its blooming. It is called in the Hebrew, shakad, which comes from a verb signifying to make haste, or to awake early, and which was evidently given to it from the circumstance of its blossoming the earliest of any of the fruit trees. The tree resembles that of the peach in its leaves and blossoms; but the fruit is drier, unfit to eat, and when ripe covered with a velvety or hairy skin. The only esculent part of this fruit is the kernel, the sweet almond of commerce. The references to this nut in scripture are various, and some most practical and expressive. In Gen. xliii. 11, its fruit is enumerated amongst the presents sent down by Jacob to the governor of Egypt, from which it appears that even at that early period the tree was common in Syria, while it was probably but little known in Egypt. In Exod. xxv. 33, 34, the Almond is referred to as the pattern for the bowls of the candlestick made for the Tabernacle. In Numb. xvii. 8, Aaron's rod is spoken of as budding and bearing almonds; so proving his election of God to the high priest's office. In Eccles. xii. 5, the flourishing of the Almond tree is spoken of as emblematical of old age, and some difficulty has been felt about the exact point of reference. To us it has always appeared that the allusion is to the time when the Almond tree is in full leaf and fruit, which will be towards the end of September, or in the autumn; and if so, then the figure is readily applied to the autumn of life. In Jer. i. 11, 12, the prophet sees the "rod of an Almond tree" in his vision, as the symbol of the speedy fulfilment of the predictions he then was uttering. Of the uses of the Almond we have very little room to speak. With us the sweet almond is a pleasant article of food; while from the bitter almond various medicinal preparations are produced, amongst which we may name Prussic acid. In Egypt a paste is made of almonds, through which to filter the water of the Nile when muddy at the time of the annual flood. At the Cape of Good Hope the wood is used for the heels of shoes. Amongst the Jews in the wilderness, it is believed by some that a branch of the Almond was borne by the princes of the tribes, as the emblem of their vigilant care of the people and the cause committed to them. Our use to-day is that of a practical lesson to our youthful readers. Let them, like the Almond, blossom early in their |