victions of sin, and were led day after day to prostrate themselves before crucifixes, images, and pictures, in order to soothe a disturbed conscience. There was an old woman attached to the camp, acting in the same capacity with themselves, as a domestic in some officer's family, who had formerly resided at Madras, and had been instructed by Kolhoff, or some of the missionaries connected with that station. She had a copy of the sacred scriptures, which she was constantly reading; and she used to remark to these individuals that there was nothing in the bible about transubstantiation, or kneeling before images, or perpetually crossing one's self, and that these things could never bring peace to a troubled mind. To satisfy them of the truth of what she said, she proposed to read the scriptures to them; which she did from time to time. The result was, that they became convinced that they were in error, and resolved to gather their creed from the bible. They obtained a copy of the new testament in the Tamul language, and met together regularly to hear it read. After a while, there providentially fell in their way a copy of the prayer-book in the Tamul tongue, which had been published by bishop Heber. Having appointed one of their number as a reader, they now had worship regularly, according to the order of the prayer-book, on Sundays. "Here was a little body of Christians in the midst of India, surrounded by Mohammedan and pagan darkness, conducted to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, not by the voice of a living instructor, but by the silent and simple teaching of a single copy of God's word; and, though deprived of all pastoral ministrations, they were enabled to keep up from week to week an edifying worship, by means of a single copy of the book of common prayer. What a proof we have here of the power of God's word! With what confidence may we rely upon it, in sending it forth without note or comment, among the unevangelized nations of the earth! It will not return void, but accomplish what the Lord pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto it is sent. "But I fear I am wearying you, not only with too minute details, but with the superabundance of my own reflections." SKETCHES FROM NATURAL HISTORY. IN Mr. Bennett's edition of Mr. Gilbert White's "Selborne," there are some very valuable notes on bats, which will materially illustrate the remarks in a former paper: as to raise up the glass and effect its escape. I once saw one fly into a cottage in Wiltshire, either by mistake, or probably pursued by some owl; but, notwithstanding the delicacy of tact ascribed to the species by Spallanzani, it did not seem capable of discovering the door, and dashed recklessly about till it was caught (Rennie). "I am indebted to Mr. Daniell for the following particulars of the habits of two species of British bats, which were kept by him in confinement. "In July, 1833,' Mr. Daniell says, "I received five specimens of the pipistrelle bat from Elvetham, Hants, all of which were pregnant females. There were many more congregated with them in the ruins of the barn in which they were taken; but the rest escaped. They were brought to me in a tin powder-canister, in which they had been kept for several days; and on turning them loose into a common packing-case, with a few strips of deal nailed over its front to form a cage, they pleased me much by the great activity which they displayed in the larger space into which they had been introduced; progressing rapidly along the bottom of the box, ascending by the bars to the top, and then throwing themselves off as if endeavouring to fly. I caught some flies, and offered one of them to one of the bats, which seized it with the greatest eagerness, and devoured it greedily, and then thrust its nose repeatedly through the bars, with its jaws extended, closing them from time to time with a snap, and evincing the utmost anxiety to obtain an additional supply of this agreeable food. The flies were then offered to the whole of them; and the same ravenous disposition was displayed; all the bats crowding together at the end of the box at which they were fed, and crawling over, snapping at, and biting each other, like so many curs, uttering at the same time a disagreeable grating squeak. I soon found that my pets were so hungry as to require more time to be expended in fly-catching than I was disposed to devote to them; and I then tried to feed them with cooked meat; but this they rejected. Raw beef was, however, eaten with avidity; and an evident preference was given to those pieces which had been moistened with water. The feeding with beef answered exceedingly well, two objects being gained by it-the bats were enabled to feed without assistance, and my curiosity was gratified by observing them catching flies for themselves. "A slice of beef attached to the side of the box in which they were kept not only spared me the trouble of feeding them, but also, by attracting the flies, afforded good sport in observing the animals obtain their own food by this new kind of bat-fowling. The weather being warm, many "I have more than once kept bats in confine-blue-bottle flies were attracted by the meat; and, ment; but none of them exhibited any of the dexterity mentioned by Mr. White : on the contrary, they seemed most remarkable for the awkwardness with which they seized and treated the insects offered to them, and required to have them almost put into their mouths before they perceived them. I attributed this to its being unnatural for them to catch their prey except on the wing, like the swallows (hirundinida) and the night-jars. One of them, which I kept under an inverted bellglass, slightly raised at the edge to admit fresh air, contrived to insinuate the hook of its wing so on one of these approaching within range of the bats' wings, it was sure to be struck down by their action; the animal itself falling at the same instant with all its membranes expanded, cowering over the devoted fly, with its head thrust under them in order to secure its prey. When the head was again drawn forth, the membranes were immediately closed, and the fly was observed to be almost invariably taken by the head. The act of deglutition was a laboured operation; the "Might not this have been owing to the alarm or excitement under which the animal was labouring at the time?" mastication consisting of a succession of eager bites or snaps; and the sucking process, if I may so term it, by which the insect was drawn into the mouth, being greatly assisted by the loose lips of the animal. Several minutes were usually occupied in swallowing a large fly. Those which I offered, in the first instance, were eaten entire; but I subsequently observed detached wings in the bottom of the box in which the bats were kept: I never, however, observed the rejection of the wings by the bats, and am inclined to think that they are generally swallowed. The olfactory nerves of the pipistrelle are acutely sensible, readily distinguishing between an insect and a bit of beef; for, when one of them has been hanging at rest, attached by its hinder extremities to one of the bars in front of its cage, I have frequently placed a small piece of beef within a short distance of its nose, but the beef has always been disregarded; when, on the other hand, I have put a fly in the same situation, the bat instantly commenced snapping after it. They would eat the beef when they were hungry; but they never refused a fly. "In the day-time they sometimes clustered together in a corner of the cage. Towards evening they became very lively, and gave rapid utterance to their harsh, creaking notes. The longest survivor of them died after a captivity of nineteen days. "My intimate acquaintance with the noctule bat, the species of which Gilbert White appears to have been the first English observer, and for which he indicated the specific name altivolans, commenced on the 16th of May, 1834. I obtained on that day, from Hertfordshire, five specimens, four of which were pregnant females. The fifth individual, a male, was exceedingly restless and savage from the first, biting the females, and breaking his teeth against the wires of the cage in his attempts to escape from his place of confinement. He rejected all food, and died on the 18th. Up to this time the remaining four had continued sulky; but towards the evening they ate a few small pieces of raw beef, in preference to flies, beetles, or gentles, all of which were offered to them only one, however, fed kindly. On the 20th one died, and on the 22nd two others. The survivor was tried with a variety of food, for I was anxious to preserve her as long as possible; and, as she evinced a decided preference for the hearts, livers, &c., of fowls, she was fed constantly upon them. Occasionally I offered to her large flies, but they were always rejected; although one or two May-chafers placed within her reach were partially eaten. In taking the food the wings are not thrown forward in the manner of the pipistrelle, as if to surround a victim and prevent its escape: the action of the noctule in seizing the meat was similar to that of a dog. The appetite was sometimes voracious; the quantity eaten exceeding half an ounce; although the weight of the animal was no more than ten drachms. It was in the evening that it came down to its food: throughout the day it remained suspended by its hinder extremities at the top of the cage. It lapped the water that drained from the food; and in this, no less than in its manner of feeding, there was a marked distinction between the noctule and the pipistrelle: the latter in drink ing raises its head. The animal evidently became quite reconciled to her new position. She took considerable pains in cleaning herself, using the claws of the posterior extremities as a comb, parting with them the hair on either side from the head to the tail, and forming a straight line down the middle of the back: the membrane of the wings was cleaned by forcing the nose through the folds, and thereby expanding them. "On the 23rd of June a young one was born, exceeding in size a newly-born mouse, and having, from its birth, considerable power in its hind legs and claws, by the aid of which it clung strongly to its dam or the deal sides of the cage. It was nestled so closely within the folds of the membranes as to prevent any observation of the process of suckling. The dam was exceedingly careful of it on the next day also, and was observed to shift it from side to side to suckle it, keeping it still folded in the membranes of the wings on these occasions her usual position was reversed. In the evening she was found to be dead; but the young one was still alive. It took milk from a sponge, and was kept carefully wrapped up in flannel, and by these attentions was preserved for eight days, at the end of which period it died. Its eyes were not then opened, and it had acquired very little hair.' "In the great tendency of the bats to produce foliaceous expansions of the skin resides the principal characteristic of the family. The spreading out of membranes between the lengthened bones of the fingers, and the extension of them from the fore to the hinder limbs, are common to all the species; and many of them have, in addition, another membrane interposed between the hinder limbs, and enveloping the tail, either in whole or in part, when that organ exists. These expansions belong principally to the peculiar mode of locomotion for which the animals are constructed. The lateral membranes perform the functions of wings, and serve to propel the body through the air; while the interfemoral membrane acts, by its expansion, as a parachute, and prevents the bat from rapidly falling to the ground. "But, although the larger membranes belong chiefly to locomotion, they contribute also to extend the means by which the animal is enabled to acquire a knowledge of the circumstances in which it is moving. The actions of the bat are confined to the darkness of the night, or at best to the uncertain glimmering of the dusky twilight; and the sense of vision is consequently comparatively inadequate to guide it in its flights and in the pursuit of its prey. To compensate for the imperfection of its vision, other senses should be rendered more acute; and this is effected by the exposure of a large extent of naked skin, and by the development of processes adapted to direct the impulses of the air on the several organs which are destined to appreciate them. "Destitute almost entirely of hair, the flying membranes of the bats become organs of touch; and the great surface which they expose to atmospheric impulses must necessarily render them highly susceptible of the finest impressions to which that sense is liable. The perfection of the sense of smell also is, in many cases, aided by a peculiar arrangement; a membrane being frequently developed on the nose, which, by di recting the air towards the nostrils, renders more assured the affecting of the olfactory organs by the scents with which the atmosphere may be impregnated. A somewhat similar arrangement adds to the efficiency of the sense of hearing; for the great expansion of the external ear, which often occurs in bats, is equally adapted for directing towards the auditory passages the air charged with sounds; and, even in those cases in which the external ears are not disproportionally large, the nakedness of these organs, qualifying them to act also as organs of touch, renders them so susceptible to the finer impulses of the atmosphere as to cause them quickly to assume the state of tension most fitted for directing sound. It would seem, indeed, that the quantity of sound forced occasionally into the ears of bats was so great as to render it necessary to provide the power of closing the auditory passage, by the folding down over it of a kind of internal or second ear; itself, like the outer or ordinary ear, a naked and membranous expansion of the skin, and of course equally susceptible of delicate impressions, and acted upon by them to the performance of its special functions with equal acuteness and rapidity. The tragus, which exists in man only as a small lobe projecting in front over the auditory opening, becomes in many of the bats a lengthened process, variously shaped, and evidently of considerable importance in the physiology of the organ with which it is connected. It is the tragus to which Gilbert White refers as offering within the ear somewhat of a peculiar structure; and, as its form, as well the form of the other cutaneous appendages of the bats, is of considerable importance in the distinguishing of these animals from each other, and as, moreover, the distinction of the several kinds of bats is highly desirable, in order to guide us to a more definite knowledge of these imperfectly-understood animals, and especially of the habits peculiar to each, it may be well to refer to them as indicating, in most instances, specific characters for the British bats. measure in total length one inch and a-half). Neither of these is very generally distributed throughout the country, although in some situations they are not uncommon: they chiefly frequent old houses, and caves. "The remaining British bats are destitute of the nose-leaf, and may be distinguished into genera by characters derived from the expansion of the outer ear. In some of them the two ears meet in the middle of the forehead, and are united at their inner margins. Such is the case with the barbastelle, constituting the genus Barbastellus of Mr. Gray; in which the ears are shorter than the head; and the ears are also united on their inner edge in the long-eared bats (Plecotus, Geoff.), in which the external ears is so largely and disproportionately developed as almost to equal in length the entire body and head. The common, long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus, Geoff.) is frequent in the vicinity of houses: the expansion of its wings is fully ten inches. A second long-eared bat, which has been suspected to be the young of the former, has been described by the rev. L. Jenyns as differing from it in many particulars, and especially in the comparative shortness of its fingers; whence he has called it brevimanus: the expansion of its wings is less than seven inches. Of this latter, the only individual that has yet occurred was taken from a tree. "All the other bats that have yet been captured in England have their ears distinct from each other, and belong to the genus Vespertilio, which is still an extensive one, notwithstanding the numerous dismemberments to which it has been subjected. Of these, some have the ears as long as, or slightly longer than, the head: such are the Vesp. murinus, Desm., and Vesp. Becksteinii, Leisl., in which the tragus is about half the length of the auricle, is somewhat expanded on its outer side just above its base, and terminates in a point; the latter species being most readily distinguishable by its exceedingly slender thumb; and the Vesp. Nattereri, Kuhl, in which the tragus is "It is worthy of remark, however, before linear, and full two-thirds of the length of the commencing this enumeration, that at the time auricle. Others, and these are the more numerwhen White first wrote to Pennant on this sub- ous, have the auricle not so long as the head. ject, he knew but two indigenous kinds-the long-In Vesp. mystacinus, Leisl., the tragus is half as eared, and that which he regarded as the short- long as the auricle, and is lanceolate: in Vesp. eared; these, in fact, being all that were even emarginatus, Geoff., the tragus is also half the known to Linnæus as European. White sub-length of the somewhat lengthened ear, but is sequently became acquainted with another; the Vespertilio altivolans. Pennant knew, and described a fourth-the horse-shoe bat. Many years subsequently elapsed without the addition of another. The four indigenous species known in 1771 have now been increased to at the least fourteen distinct kinds; so great have been the advances that have of late years been made in England in the search after ani:nals, and in the discrimination between them. subulate in Vesp. pygmæus, Leach, the tragus is of the same comparative length as in the two preceding, and is subulate; the species being distinguished (if, indeed, it be a species, and not the young of some other, perhaps of the Vesp. serotinus) by its very diminutive size, the expansion of its wings being scarcely more than five inches: in Vesp. serotinus, Gmel., the tragus is also subalate, but is not half the length of the ear: in Vesp. discolor, Natt., the tragus is scarcely one"The presence or absence of a nose-leaf is third the length of the ear, and of almost equal generally regarded as of primary importance in breadth throughout: in the pipistrelle, (Vesp. the sub-division of the insectivorous bats. Of pipistrellus, Gmel.), which is the bat of most frethose that possess such an appendage, we have inquent occurrence in England (where, on account England only two kinds. These are the horseshoe bats, forming part of the genus Rhinolophus, and readily distinguishable by their size into the greater (the head and body of which are two and a-half inches long), and the less (which does not of its diminutive size as compared with the noctule, it is often called the mouse-bat), the tragus is half the length of the ear, and is terminated by a rounded head: the expansion of its wings is rather more than eight inches: in the remaining two species, which are nearly of a uniform chestnut-colour both above and below, the tragus has almost the same form as in the last, and in the Vesp. Leisleri, Kuhl., is scarcely smaller than in the pipistrelle; while in the noctule, Vesp. noctula, Gmel., it is much reduced in size, being little more than one quarter of the length of the ear, and consists of a rather broad base, becoming expanded towards the tip, especially on the outer side, so widely as to form a head about twice the breadth of the stem that supports it. The noctule is the largest of the English bats, except the rare Vesp. murinus, its wings extending, when expanded, to the width of fourteen inches: it occurs more frequently than any of the others, with the exception of the pipistrelle (erroneously named Vesp. murinus by all British writers until very recently), and of the long-eared bat. A not unfrequent name for it, indicative of its superiority of size over the pipistrelle, is the rat-bat. | The first tribe of them, distinguished by being without tails, is not at present known in Egypt or Northern Arabia; but of the second, having tails, a large species was discovered by Mr. Geoffroy in the Pyramids, and a very large one is figured on the oldest monuments. Species of this, or of both, are likewise common in Madagascar; and hence it may be inferred that they still exist in Southern Arabia. It was to one or more species of this section of Cheiroptera that we think the Mosaic prohibition was chiefly directed; and it is likewise to them that may be referred the foundation of the ancient legends concerning harpies, which, however much they may be distorted, have a basis of truth. Indeed, when we consider their voice, the faculty they have of feeding with their thumbs, their formidable teeth, their habit of flying in the day during dark weather, and their willingness, though they are frugivorous, to devour not only insects, but also the blood and flesh of small animals, we may admit that originally they were more daring in the presence of man; that their true characters are but moderately amplified by poetical fancy; and that the Mosaic injunction was strikingly appro "By this enumeration of the indigenous species some idea will have been obtained of the variations in form and development of the curious structure within the ear referred to by the author, as they occur in the genus Vespertilio, to an extent so great as almost to afford characters for the dis-priate. tinction of every species. In Plecotus the tragus is also developed to an extent proportioned to the exceeding amplitude of the ears themselves. In Barbastellus it also exists in a marked degree. In the horse-shoe bats no such appendage is present; although in many exotic genera the additional leaflet of the ear coexists with that which is superadded to the nose." "In the texts of scripture, where allusion is made to caverns and dark places, true Vespertilionidæ, or insect-eating birds, similar to the European, are clearly designated." ON CONFIRMATION: 1846), BY THE REV. C. SMITH BIRD, M.A., VICAR, Prebendary of Lincoln, and late Fellow of Trinity ROM. x. 10. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The following is from "Kitto's Cyclopædia:" "Bat occurs in Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18; (Preached in Gainsborough Parish Church, on Sunday, May 17, Isa. ii. 20; and Bar. vi. 22. In Hebrew, the word implies flying in the dark; which, taken in connection with the sentence 66 moreover the othelaph and every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you, they shall not be eaten," is so clear, that there cannot be a mistake respecting the order of animals meant; though to modern zoology neither the species, the genus, nor even the family is thereby manifested: the injunction merely prohibits eating bats, and may likewise include some tribes of insects. At first sight, animals so diminutive, lean, and repugnant to the senses, must appear scarcely to have required the legislator's attention; but the fact evidently shows animals classed with bats; a practice still in vogue in the great Australasian islands, where the frugivorous Pteropi, of the harpy or goblin family, by our seamen denominated flying-dogs, and erroneously vampyres, are caught, and eaten; but where the insectivorous true bats, such as the genera common in Europe, are rejected. Some of the species of harpies are of the bulk of a rat, with from three to four feet of expanse between the tips of the wings: they have a fierce, dog-like head, and are nearly all marked with a space of rufous hair from the forehead over the neck, and along part of the back. that there were at the time men or tribes who ate "They reside in the most dense foliage of large trees, whence they fly out at night, and do considerable damage to the plantations of fruit-trees. Among them, the Pteropus edulis, kalong, or edible goblin bat, is conspicuous, and not unfrequently found in our museums of natural history. THIS is a very important declaration; and concerns, as appears on the face of it, our "salvation." It speaks of two things as absolutely necessary to all Christians, who desire to render to God what he requires, in order that they may have a good hope of attaining to what he promises. Let me suppose that you, my brethren, are Christians of this sort. If not, there can be no hope for you, as long as you remain in that careless state. But, if you are sufficiently sincere and honest in your profession of the Christian religion to desire to know God's will, and to do it (which, if you are willing, he will strengthen you to effect), then you will be anxious to see clearly what these two things are, which the apostle lays down in the text as necessary to salva tion. I. The first is belief: "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Faith, you all know, is continually held seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart." And when God condemned his ancient people and cast them off, what was their great offence? Was it that they refused him his offerings and sacrifices, or neglected to attend his house of prayer? No; it was because they were not heart-worshippers: "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." Need I say that if the heart be Christ's, the life will be his? "If ye love me," he said, "keep my commandments." The proof that the heart is touched, lies in a ceaseless endeavour to please him, and in an unquenchable desire to be like him. forth as indispensable to the hope of eternal | gods: they always opened and examined a life. Without it we have no righteousness. victim, which was laid upon the altar, and, In ourselves we are unrighteous and unclean: if it had no heart, or so small a one as scarcely we are "born in sin" through the fall of to be visible, they threw it away. They conAdam, and are "by nature children of sidered the circumstance a sign that the gods wrath" (Eph. ii. 3); and, as we grow up, were displeased with them. So that reason, we become sinners by practice. Hear the unenlightened by revelation, shews us the confession which the best of us is bound to importance of the heart; and scripture tells make in approaching the communion table, us this very plainly: "My son," says God, where we are reminded of the great sacrifice" give me thine heart." And again: "God which was offered for our transgressions: "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us" (Communion service). If, then, we have no righteousness of our own, where are we to procure it?-for the least reflection will shew us that we cannot stand before God unless we have a righteousness of some kind. God cannot look on naked sin: he is perfectly pure. Our uncleanness must be covered, otherwise we must be shut out of his presence for ever. Now, we are told expressly, again and again, by St. Paul, that the only righteousness in which we can stand before God is "the righteousness that is by faith" (Rom. i. 17; iii. 22-28; Gal. iii. 11; v. 5; Phil. iii. 9; &c.). It is by faith only that we are justified, that is, accounted righteous. If we believe, and lay hold of Christ by faith--if we come in the spirit of the believing woman spoken of in the gospel history, who felt her diseased state, and was confident that Christ could cure it; if we do but "touch the hem of his garment," saying within ourselves, as she did, "If I may but touch his garment I shall be clean ;" we shall receive the blessing, the inestimable blessing, of justification we shall procure the righteousness, the perfect righteousness, of Christ. God will see us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are "in Christ." Christ's righteousness will be imputed to us, as our unrighteousness was imputed to him: "He was made sin," says the apostle- that is, as in-offering-" for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 21); "Therefore," says the same apostle in another place, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. v. 1). But this faith, so highly spoken of, and so beneficial to us, must not be a nominal faith: "With the heart," says the text, "man believeth unto righteousness." It must be a heartfelt belief: without the heart God regards nothing in religion. Even the heathen saw the necessity of the heart being concerned in the intercourse with their supposed II. We have now sufficiently discussed the first part of the text-sufficiently, I mean, for the present occasion. I wish rather to direct your most serious attention to the second part, which speaks of the other condition necessary to salvation, namely, confessing our faith publicly. When, by the mercy of God, we have opened our ears to the good tidings in the gospel, and have embraced them, so as to comply with the first condition in the text, "Man believeth unto righteousness," still it is plainly declared that we must do something more: we must not be ashamed or afraid to confess our faith: "With the mouth," it is added, "confession is made unto salvation." Poor, indeed, must the faith be, which dares not make itself known, if called upon, even before kings, and is not ashamed. Cowardly must be the heart which, if it loves Christ, is afraid to confess its secret affection. Our Lord and Master will not be contented with so poor a love-if love it can be termed at all. "Whosoever," he says, "shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." You are aware, my brethren, from the notice that has been given you, that there will be a confirmation held in this church by the bishop of the diocese before long. I am anxious, therefore, to address you, especially my younger friends, on this important sub |