band of Earth is the Western Continent, comprehending North and South America, whose greatest length is eight thousand miles, and greatest breadth about three thousand. The number of inhabitants which people the earth at one time is estimated at about eight hundred millions—of which five hundred millions are reckoned to Asia, fifty-eight millions to Africa, forty-two millions to America, and two hundred millions to Europe. Of these, twenty-five millions die every year, sixty-eight thousand every day, two thousand eight hundred and fifty every hour, and forty-seven every minute, so that almost at every pulse that beats within us an immortal being is passing from time into eternity-a solemn and important consideration to every one of us, who must shortly follow in our turn the generations that have gone before us.

A serious consideration of the physical objects and movements connected with our globe has a tendency to excite pious and reverential emotions. To contemplate this huge globe of land and water flying with rapidity through the voids of space, conveying its vast population from one region to another, at the rate of fifteen hundred thousand miles in a day, and whirling round its axis at the same time to produce the constant succession of day and night-to contemplate the lofty ridges of mountains that stretch around it-the flaming volcanoes-the roaring cataracts—the numerous rivers rolling their watery treasures into the seas -the majestic ocean and its unfathomable caverns-and thousands of other objects of diversified beauty and sublimity has an evident tendency to expand the conceptions of the human mind, to increase its sources of rational enjoyment, and to elevate the affections to that All-powerful Being who gave birth to all the sublimities of nature, and who incessantly superintends all its movements.

THE MURDERED MOTHER.

(Continued from page 19.)

About three years,-perhaps it was four or five yearsafter you left this town, a precious minister of the gospel came here. There was a great change in the minds and ways of people, and my neighbour here, Mrs. Prince, (looking toward the good woman who was kindly nursing her,) would have me go and hear him. God had patience with me to let me live until that time. Then he showed mercy to my soul, by leading me to a place of prayer,

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where I heard the blessed news, that Jesus Christ had come into the world to save sinners, and where my eyes were open to see what my true state was. I hope I there found a Saviour. I think he has been near and precious to me ever since; and I am sure he is nearer and more precious to me now than ever before. And for all this I do bless and praise his holy name. But that boy-0, that boy, if I had followed him to the grave that day you followed him home-but it is well—'

After a short pause, she continued:-'I was going to tell you, sir, Jacob got to be so unsteady and mischievous, that at last, I was persuaded by the neighbours to put him in the House of Refuge. He remained there about thirteen months. I was very far from feeling easy about him, and I finally persuaded some of my friends to get him out. He had behaved himself generally, very well; and upon my earnest desire that he might be returned to me, and upon his solemn promise of amendment, he was sent home.

'I persuaded a neighbour, Mr. Drummond, to take him, and teach him the trade of a wheelwright. He liked Mr. Drummond, and liked the trade very well, but in spite of all I could do or say, he would not be bound.

'About three months after he went to his trade, there was a military parade near by, and Jacob wanted to go; but there was some pressing work in the shop, which Mr. Drummond was very anxious to have done, and he refused to let him go. That night he ran away; and I did not see him for almost a month. When he came back I had a long conversation with him, in which he seemed willing to tell me about all his evil ways. I found he had made some very bad acquaintances before he went to the House of Refuge; and that every day he was in the company of profane, idle, and Sabbath-breaking boys. I have no doubt that he was then in the way of going to taverns, and other drinking places. Weeks and months passed in this way, and no tongue can tell what I suffered in that time. I walked my chamber many nights, the whole livelong night, waiting for that boy to come home, and thinking what would become of him if he was not checked in his downward way. I prayed that God would forgive all his mother's negligence and improper indulgence of him, and save the boy from the dreadful power of the wicked I tried-0, how often-to persuade him to do better. 'By the kindness of some of my neighbours, Jacob got

one.

employment in the grocery store next below the schoolhouse. One morning, Mr. Wilkins, the grocer, sent him to the bank with some money. On his way he met with an old acquaintance, who persuaded him to make off with what he had got. He did so, but was taken up that very night, and brought back, and nearly all the money found in his possession.

When he came to be tried before the court, he sent for me to come and help him; but I could not go; and I knew I could do him no good if I did He go. was sent to prison for eighteen months, and his time will be out next spring. But I cannot tell you all. O, sir, it is—it is, indeed, a bitter thing for a mother to have a thoughtless, wicked child. It has weighed me down night and day; and now, I think what will become of him when he comes out of prison? But I shall not be here. I know the Judge of all the earth will do right: the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. I am willing to give him up to the will of Him who does all things well.'

This was the substance of the dying woman's story. She was often interrupted by a gush of tears, and several times her strength almost failed her.

I thought it would be cruel to remind her of the words I had spoken to her many years before, when I had followed this same child home from his vile sport. I prayed with her, and for her, and for her profligate child; and in less than a week, as I afterwards learned, the good woman was taken from this vale of tears, and admitted, I trust, to a better and brighter world.

O, if children could but know what sorrows they heap upon a mother's heart, when they are pursuing their wicked courses, they would shudder at their own guilt. They would as soon think of lifting their hand to shed a mother's blood, as of piercing her heart through and through with such bitter sorrows. They drink wine; they laugh and sing; they forget and forsake home, and wander away with the thoughtless and profane; while the mother that brought them into being, and fed, and nursed, and watched over them in helpless infancy, and took care of them in sickness and health, by night and by day, is at home, perhaps, in some lonely chamber, mourning over their folly, and pouring out tears and prayers before God on their account.-What a picture of ingratitude and sin is seen in a thoughtless, thankless and rebellious child!

Jacob was discharged from prison at the end of eighteen,

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months; but before he had been out a week, he was tempted to go to the theatre, where he stole a pocket book from a countryman's pocket. He was suspected, and pursued. When the officer came to arrest him, he seized a stick of wood, and struck him so severely that he died that same night. The wretched young man was thrown back again into a gloomy prison; was afterwards tried, and found guilty of murder; and is now passing his silent, lonely life, in one of our penitentiaries.

It is not long since I saw him in his solitary dwellingplace. After an hour's conversation with him on a variety of subjects, I said to him, 'Well, Millman, I suppose you sometimes think of your mother, and your treatment of her?'

Ah! that I do,' said the unhappy young man. "Yes, sir, I do, indeed.-Often have I started up from that narrow bed of mine, (pointing to an iron-framed bedstead that was turned up against the wall, in one corner of his cell,) often have I started up from that bed, in the darkness of the night, and thrown the clothes off from me, while my hair stood up stiff upon my head, and a cold shiver crept over my body; and I have opened my mouth to cry—' MY MOTHER! MY MURDERED MOTHER!' Bad as I am, my lips have quivered when I have laid me down again, and my tears have come as a little child's, until I could not find a dry spot to lay my head upon.

American Correspondent.

THE FOOLISH WISH: PS. XIV. 1.

Dr. Lathrop, in one of his sermons, says, 'If it were true that there is no God, what evidence can the Atheist have that he shall not exist? Whatever was the cause of his existence here, may be the cause of his existence hereafter. Or, if there be no cause, he may exist without a cause in another state as well as in this. And if his corrupt heart and abominable works make him so unhappy here, that he had rather be annihilated than run the hazard of a future existence, what hinders but he may be unhappy for ever? The man, then, is a fool that wishes there were no God, hoping thus to be secure from future misery; for admitting there were no God, still he may exist hereafter as well as here; and if he does exist, his corruptions and vices may render him miserable eternally, as well as for the present.'

Nothing can be more touching than the simple reading of the inspired narrative of this event, as given in Gen. xxii. If it be distressing to a parent's feelings to see his child irresistibly yielding to disease, how painful to Abraham to become the priest, slaying and dividing in precise order the son of his love, an only son and the child of promise, whose life seemed, according to the divine arrangement, essential for the salvation of the church. While reason might have suggested several motives for questioning the command, Abraham was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He neither conferred with flesh and blood, nor hesitated for a moment in proceeding to the solemn spot. And there, after a journey of three days, did he virtually sacrifice Isaac ; he did it alone and from one principle--faith. Brutus condemned his sons to death for the welfare of the Roman State, but he did it amid outward excitement and universal greetings. Abraham needed no outward impulse. The internal principle of supreme love to God was sufficient. He knew that the favour of God was a sufficient reward, and a sufficient motive. Isaac was however saved, when Abraham's faith had been put to the test, and had become a pattern for those who should hereafter believe. It ap