"A pilgrim through the earth I roam,

Of nothing long possess'd;

And all must fail when I go home,

For this is not my rest.

"Write but my name upon the roll

Of Thy redeem'd above,

Then heart and mind, and strength and soul,

I'll love Thee for thy love."

On the opposite, or left-hand side, are the following original lines by Mr. Montgomery; a delicate, and, we doubt not, a heartfelt tribute of his genius to the memory of one with whom in Christian friendship and acts of benevolence, he was for so many years cordially united :—

REVELATION xxii. 3, 4.

"What meet memorial to his name

Shall love and friendship raise?
That which was once his dearest aim,
That which is still his praise;

Let this enduring stone record,

'He was a servant of the Lord,'

And now, we humbly trust, through grace,
Dwells where His servants see His face,
His Name upon their foreheads bear,
And His eternal kingdom share."

Behind the figure, and on the upper part of the monument, is the following inscription, doubtless from the same pen as the foregoing lines:

"GEORGE BENNET, ESQ.

In early manhood, having 'first given himself unto the Lord,' he thenceforward consecrated his time, his talents, and his substance to the service of the Gospel, as the friend, promoter, and benefactor of Sabbath and Scriptural Day-Schools, Bible, Missionary, Religious Tract, and other Christian Societies, at home. Abroad, from 1821 to 1829, he accompanied the late Rev. Daniel Tyerman on a voyage round the world, as a Deputation from the London Missionary Society, to visit their Settlements in the Pacific Islands, Australia, India, and South Africa. The

result of his experience and observations during eight years, in which, by sea and land, he traversed about 90,000 miles, deserves to be engraven on this monument, as on his tomb, from which,

'Being dead, he yet speaketh.'"

The following is the testimony referred to: it was drawn up, and copies of it given by Mr. Bennet to many of his friends on his return after the Missionary voyage; and is here very appropriately inscribed as an abiding record of one who had possessed almost unexampled opportunities of forming a right estimate of the importance of the religion of Jesus Christ:

"After an honest comparison of multitudes of persons of nearly all climes, colours, and characters, I am enabled, and by a love of truth constrained, to bear this humble and sincere testimony to the paramount worth of the Gospel of God our Saviour:

[We knew Mr. Bennet well, and esteemed him much, and gladly place this testimony to his Christian worth in the pages of "The Youth's Instructer." We remember the affectionate way in which he gave religious advice to youth, so that even the giddy, who little heeded at the time the matter of his advice, were more deeply impressed than they cared to acknowledge by its manner.

The narrative of his Missionary voyages and travels was drawn up from his own papers by Mr. Montgomery; with whom, before he left England, Mr. Bennet was often associated in works of Christian benevolence. This narrative has since been published in the form which seems now to be a sort of general favourite, large octavo, with double columns, and close print. Certainly, by this means, many works are brought within the reach of a class of purchasers, who, whatever their wishes, or their capacity of improvement, could not have pro

cured them in the more expensive form. Few books of travels better deserve a place in the Christian library, private or more public, than this.*-ED. Y. I.]

SUPERSTITION IN A SPANIARD.

[We do not insert the following anecdote as illustrating Spanish superstition merely, but ignorant superstition anywhere and everywhere. Occasionally, our own country furnishes similar instances; and what we condemn in those belonging to another country, we should seek to rectify in those belonging to our own. The anecdote is taken from the interesting volumes lately published by Mr. Borrow, "The Bible in Spain."-ED. Y. I.]

AT Evora, Mr. Borrow met with a man from Palmella, who said he never feared that any mischief would happen to him on his journeyings. The reason was, that he had a small bag attached to his neck by a silken string. "In this bag," said he, "is an oracam, or prayer, written by a person of power; and as long as I carry it about with me, no ill can befall me." Mr. Borrow prevailed on him to allow it to be examined. It was as follows:

"Just Judge and Divine Son of the Virgin Maria, who wast born in Bethlehem, a Nazarene, and wast crucified in the midst of all Jewry, I beseech thee, O Lord, by thy sixth day, that the body of me be not caught, nor put to death by the hands of justice at all: peace be with you, the peace of Christ; may I receive peace; may you receive peace, saith God to his disciples. If the accursed justice should distrust me, or have its eyes on me, in order to take me, or to rob me, may its eyes not see me, may its mouth not speak to me, may it have ears which may not hear me, may it have hands which may not seize me, may it have feet which may

* Voyages and Travels round the World, by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. Compiled from original Documents, by James Montgomery, Esq. Second Edition. Illustrated with Twenty-six Engravings. Large 8vo., double columns, pp. 288. John Snow.

not overtake me for may I be armed with the arms of St. George, covered with the cloak of Abraham, and shipped in the ark of Noah, so that it can neither see me, nor hear me, nor draw the blood from my body. I also adjure thee, O Lord, by those three blessed crosses, by those three blessed chalices, by those three blessed Clergymen, by those three consecrated hosts, that thou give me that sweet company which thou gavest to the Virgin Maria, from the gates of Bethlehem to the portals of Jerusalem, that I may go and come with pleasure and joy with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin Maria, the prolific, yet nevertheless the eternal Virgin."

The woman of the house and her daughter had similar bags attached to their necks, which, they said, prevented the witches from having power to hurt them.—Vol. i., p. 59.

GOOD PRINCIPLE

IN A YOUNG SPANISH FEMALE.

As we have given an anecdote illustrative of superstition, it is only fair to connect it with one, likewise from Mr. Borrow's work, which shows the force of correct principle, even when connected with mistaken opinions. At the house in Evora, where Mr. Borrow lodged, one Sunday, the daughter of the good woman said that he would perhaps like to see some books: she therefore brought him a few. Some of them were legends of Saints; but among them was a translation of Volney's "Ruins of Empires." A young man, a great constitutionalist, had given it to her some months before, pressing her to read it, because he thought that it was one of the best books in the world. Mr. Borrow told her that the author was 66 an emissary of Satan, and an enemy of Jesus Christ, and the souls of mankind, who wrote the book to bring religion into contempt, and to persuade his readers that there was no future state." The young woman made no reply, but going into another room, returned with her apron full of dry sticks and brushwood, all which she piled on the fire, and produced a bright blaze. "She then," says Mr. Borrow, "took the book from my hand, and placed it

upon the flaming pile, and, sitting down, took her rosary out of her pocket, and told her beads, and said her prayers, till the volume was consumed. This was an auto-da-fe* in the best sense of the word."-Vol. i., p. 62.

THE STABILITY OF THE SYSTEM OF THE
UNIVERSE.

DR. WHEWELL, in his "Bridgewater Treatise," devotes a chapter to this deeply interesting subject, treating it powerfully, and as luminously as one that is so abstruse allows. He argues that "the arrangement which at present obtains, is precisely that which is necessary to secure the stability of the system." The entire argument requires, for its clear perception, a correct acquaintance both with the facts presented by the system itself, and with the higher branches of mathematical calculation; but Dr. Whewell furnishes a general statement sufficiently clear for argument and conviction. An abstract of it will be, we think, received with pleasure by the readers of "The Youth's Instructer."

And first, as to the difficulty, the cause which apparently threatens instability.—“If each planet were to revolve round the sun without being affected by the other planets, there would be a certain degree of regularity in its motion; and this regularity would continue for ever. But it appears, by the discovery of the law of universal gravitation, that the planets do not execute their movements in this insulated and independent manner. Each of them is acted on by the attraction of all the rest." "This cause acts perpetually, and has the whole extent of time to work in." It produces derangements of position, and therefore variety in the force of the power which governs their motions. "Is it not then easily conceivable that in the lapse of ages, the derangements of the motions of the planets may accumulate, the form of their orbits be changed, their mutual disturbances much increased or diminished? Is it not possible that these changes may go