three fleurs-de-lis sable, as many ram's heads couped of the field.

Another member of this loyal family is buried in the chancel of Arksey church, about three miles from Doncaster. The following is a translation of his Latin epitaph :

"Underneath this stone was interred ROBErt Portington. A General, a brave soldier, and faithful to his Prince. He died 23d day of December, 1660."

The above family has long been extinct in this part; and I believe the inscriptions here given, are the only memorials remaining of them. T. N. R.

CHARITY TO THE BODIES OF MEN. THE Schoolmen, says Fuller, reduce all corporal charity to seven principal heads, expressed in this Latin verse:—

Visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo, condo.

Visito, to visit men in misery; as Ebed-melech did to Jeremiah.

Poto, to give drink to the thirsty; as Obadiah did to the Prophets.

Cibo, to give meat to the hungry; as Nehemiah did to the Jews and rulers.

Redimo, to rescue the captive; as Abraham did Lot.

Tego, to cover the naked; as Dorcas did the widows. Colligo, to dress the wounded; as the good jailer did St. Paul.

Condo, to bury the dead; as the devout men did St. Stephen.

THE VICAR OF BRAY.

THE Vivacious Vicar of this place, (Bray,) living under King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, was first Papist, then a Protestant, then a Papist, then a Protestant again. He had seen some martyrs burned (two miles off) at Windsor, and found the fire too hot for his tender temper. Being taxed by some one for being a turncoat, and an inconstant changeling, "Not so," said he; "for I always kept my principle, which is this,—to live and die the Vicar of Bray."-Fuller's "Worthies."

349

SENTENCES FOR REFLECTION.

LET not the ill-nature or anger of others raise up any commotions in thee. They may exasperate fools; but if thou art a wise man, thou wilt keep passion under, and subject all to reason, and govern thyself by wisdom; and so thou wilt live serene and happy, even amidst storms, quarrels, and brawls.

Out of the books thou readest, extract what thou likest, and then single out some particular from the rest for that day's meditation. So long as the meat lies whole upon the stomach, it is a burden to us; but upon concoction, (digestion,) it passeth into blood and strength. And so it fares with our studies: so long as they lie whole, they pass into the memory without affecting the understanding and affections; but upon meditation they become our own, and supply us with strength and virtue.

If thou dost indeed believe that thy safety and happiness depend upon God, then serve him in good earnest but if thou thinkest this depends upon the world, the flesh, and the devil, then serve those. If thou really thinkest that religion and virtue are the most solid and stable treasure, then strive sincerely to possess thyself of them: but if thou thinkest that ease and pleasure of the body, respect, and pomp, and state, are the portion and sovereign good of man, then devote and offer up thyself to those.

After our greatest care and caution, a great many things will be done and said, which, when we come afterwards to examine them by the strict and holy rules which God has given us, we shall find to be by no means what we now see they should have been, and what we now wish they had been. We must frequently call ourselves to account, and observe all these defects, even though it may be that others have not noticed them; and so shall we obtain such habitual watchfulness and caution, as well as such increasing wisdom, as shall cause us to improve into a great exactness of conversation, and all the graces and beauties of virtue, in addition to its essential substance.

Open not thy soul to avarice, unless thou resolve to lead a vexatious and miserable life, while others rejoice. If thou VOL. VII. Second Series. U

hearkenest to that cursed passion, it will make thee endure all the inconveniences of poverty, in the midst of thy gold and silver; and thou wilt not so much live, as languish. The condition of a covetous person is so unhappy, that the greatest mischief thou canst wish him is, that he may live long. The longer he lives, the more unhappy he is; and this self-caused and sinful unhappiness influences in a direction exactly contrary to that "light affliction, which is but for a moment," which “the chastening of the Lord" produces. This last "worketh out" the "eternal weight of glory:" but the former makes the soul to be more and more 66 a vessel of wrath, fitted for destruction."

LITERARY ARTICLE.

THE best defence against the assaults of infidelity is that which, perhaps, might be termed, by a more suitable comparison, the antidote against its poison; namely, the actual possession of those spiritual blessings which the Gospel describes and promises; but which would be sought in vain were the Gospel what infidelity represents it,-a cunningly devised fable. Of late years this has often been called EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION. And why not? It is the religion that is actually experienced; and in the experience of religion, there is the experience both of the faithfulness and mercy of God, and of the truth of the word of promise: and the promises being thus proved to be true, the truth of every other part of holy Scripture is at the same time established. They who are truly devoted to God, are said to "prove," that is, to experience, "what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God: " they have in themselves that "eternal life" which is God's "witness concerning his Son. (1 John v. 9-12.) They know, not only that the Bible is true, but that those facts and arrangements which the Bible brings before us, are true likewise.

Indeed, without this experience of the truth of religion, any other conviction, though produced by the most cogent arguments, and the most legitimate process of reasoning, will be of little advantage. We believe in the validity of the title-deeds, yet seek not to possess the inheritance. At the same time, it is important to have the conviction, inasmuch as it furnishes a groundwork on which others can rest their appeals to our conscience with the greater hope of success. Besides, there may be moments when such rational conviction will be necessary, sometimes to repel the temptation that all our religious feelings are delusive; and at others, usefully to argue with those who may be, unhappily, in the nets of infidelity, and are still entangled in the meshes. While, therefore, we earnestly exhort our youthful readers to seek that realization of the promises of the Gospel which shall put them in the condition

described by St. John, "He that believeth, hath the witness in himself," we exhort them likewise to the thoughtful study of the evidences of revealed religion. Such a study, pursued with the seriousness of spirit which the subject demands, cannot fail of producing (such is the character of those evidences) the mighty, the satisfied, conviction, This is God's book; it cannot possibly be

otherwise.

And for this particular study, our own language is remarkably rich. Our older Divines have given us some admirable treatises in connexion with it; and modern writers, by suitable productions, have endeavoured to meet the exigences of the times, and the shifting forms which this subtle foe is accustomed to assume. Nor is the advantage a small one which the youth of the present day enjoy above their fathers, in the publication of convenient abridgments and summaries, together with collections of treatises in a single volume. Circumstances have led our attention, lately, to two or three works of this kind; and we think our readers will thank us for taking the opportunity of suggesting to them a plan of study on this subject which will only require three volumes; one of them a very small one, though, in our own younger days, when we first entered upon the study, we could not have taken an equally extensive range without the aid of many volumes, some of them not very easy to procure. We only wish that the facility with which books can now be procured, may not lead to intellectual superficialness and vanity. But that is another subject, too important to be merely glanced at. We must take an opportunity for considering it fully, if we consider it at all. At present, we state what we think will be a useful course of study, the means of which are easily and cheaply attainable. Let the student read well what we are going to mention, and he will have neither a narrow nor a superficial acquaintance with the evidences of revealed religion.

1. The first we mention is but a small work, but we wish it were in the hands of all the readers of "The Youth's Instructer." We believe that, if they would read it, they would acknowledge themselves to be under no ordinary obligation to its Editor for furnishing them with it. The title is,

The Christian armed against Infidelity. A Collection of Tracts in Defence of Divine Revelation. With a Preface by Thomas Jackson. 18mo., pp. xviii, 288. John Mason.

WE have mentioned this volume before, but we believe it is some years ago. We repeat our recommendation for the sake of such of our readers as have begun to be more regular students since that time; and also because of our conviction that were the volume well read, it would form an excellent foundation for the study of larger works. Indeed, were only this well read, the mind could not fail to be established in the truth of revelation. All Sunday-school Teachers, all young Local Preachers, should make themselves thoroughly acquainted with it, and the older scholars in Sunday

schools should be supplied with it. Indeed, we would have it a family book. It contains five excellent Treatises, thus put into a commodious form, and made accessible to a much more numerous class of readers than could obtain them had they to be purchased separately. They are,

(1.) Bishop Porteus on the beneficial Effects of Christianity on the temporal Concerns of Mankind.

(2.) A Summary of the Principal Evidences for Christianity, &c.; by the same Author.

(3.) Bishop Jeremy Taylor's Moral Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion.

(4.) Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists.

(5.) Dr. John Mason's Conversation with a Young Traveller. The other works we have to mention in the present month are larger, and presuppose some reading and thinking on the subject; but with this preparation they will be found very valuable.

2. A Course of Lectures on Infidelity. By Ministers of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow and the Neighbourhood. 12mo., pp. 364. Collins; Whittakers; Hamiltons; Simpkins.

ELEVEN popular, argumentative Discourses, going over the whole range of the subject; requiring thought certainly, but yet well adapted to a general congregation where thought is exercised.

3. Christian Literature. The Evidences. With Prefatory Memoirs, by the Rev. J. S. Mernes, LL.D. Royal 8vo., pp. 710. Black; Moffat.

THIS is for the more advanced student, and is in itself a library on the subject. It contains some of the principal works upon it in the English language; and by thus printing them in one volume, the whole is obtainable at a very much easier rate than were they procured in separate volumes. There are thirteen Treatises ;Watson's two Apologies; Paley's two volumes; three of Leslie's; and one each by Chandler, Jenyns, Lyttelton, Campbell, Sherlock, and West. Most divinity students wish to have all these, but have sometimes found it difficult to procure all. The publisher has done good service by thus collecting and reprinting them.

NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE

NATURE,

FOR OCTOBER, 1843.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwick.

"THE saffron tints of morn appear,

And glow across the blushing east;

The brilliant orb of day is near

To dissipate the lingering mist: