down on many hedges in July and August. It has grown wild for many centuries past in some of our English counties. The stems are long and trailing, and thickly set with small prickles. A decoction of the roots of hop is very serviceable in medicine; and in Sweden a strong cloth is manufactured from the fibres of the stalk. The black bryony, in May and June, is particularly beautiful on the hedges. The stems of this climber are but slight, and do not prove injurious to the vegetation which they encompass, as does the ivy-band. The flowers are small, and not particularly attractive, but there is scarcely a more beautiful wreath than that THE COCKROACH AND ITS CAPTOR. 241 formed by the bryony. The roots of the bryony are large, and it is to their black colour that the plant owes its English name. Lastly, we advert to that delicate white flower, the traveller's joy. Festooning the hedges, and loading them with fragrance, this is one of the most beautiful of the flowers of the hedgerow. And even when its blossoms are over, it imparts a green hue by its remaining verdure. So, also, on barren spots, far away from streams and rivulets, it often delights us by its luxurious beauty. It is said, however, that our graceful climber is often injurious to the bushes, which it strangles by its numerous twining stems and tendrils. The stems are used by farmers to bind gates and hurdles together. The travellers joy is called sometimes by the name of clematis, virgin's bower, and withy-wind. Its feathery seeds continue to ornament the hedges till quite late in the season. But we close. Verdant hedgerows-who does not love to gaze upon them? Which of our gentle readers has not often felt his heart bound with frantic joy and happiness merely at the sight of them? And then, as we grow older, and learn to think more of what we once viewed only with thoughtless delight, do we not inwardly bless and praise that tender Hand which thus bountifully clothes our country? Oh, yes, we do. Thus let our young friends learn to look upon the country; not only as a beautiful source of pleasure, but as an evidence of God's care and goodness. Let them remember that each tiny bud, leaf, and flower has come from His hand, and that the heart that beats within comes also from the same source. Earnestly do we long to influence our readers to think; not to pass away these golden hours of youth in listless indifference, thus squandering foolishly the most precious possession which God has given to humankind. Let your happiness flow forth, by all means; but let wisdom be known to you, so that your youth may lead to a happy and a useful manhood. E. CLIFFORD. THE COCKROACH AND ITS CAPTOR. SAYS a recent writer, 'Although cockroaches abounded inconveniently at the Mauritius, it was not without pity that I saw them consigned, as they frequently were, to a living grave, by a wicked-looking insect much resembling a Spanish fly. It was impossible to witness his proceedings, combined with his glittering blue and green dress, without imagining the elfish demon of a pantomime leading an innocent victim to a perpetual entombment in a haunted cavern. Let the cockroach be moving never so briskly across the wall, he has no sooner caught sight of the fatal insect-not a quarter his size-than all energy leaves him, and he stands stupidly resigned. The fly then walks up to him, looks him hard in the face, and presently, putting forth some apparatus which stands him in place of a finger and thumb, gently takes the cockroach by the nose, and leads him daintily along for a foot or two. Leaving him there, he commences a thorough examination of the neighbourhood, beating the ground up and down like a well-trained setter; and not finding what he wants, returns to the cockroach and leads him on a little further, when the same process is gone through, sometimes for hours, until the whole wall has been examined. Chinks there are in plenty, but they do not suit him. He has taken the measure of the victim's bulk, and means to lodge him commodiously. Presently a suitable hole is found, and the fly, moving backward, gently pulls the cockroach after him into his last home. What horrors are perpetrated in this dark recess cannot be more than surmised. The object, undoubtedly, is to engage him as a wet-nurse. No doubt the poor cockroach is bored in some part not vital, and eggs laid in him-a purpose, indeed, for which his succulent and motherly frame seems peculiarly adapted. And, not improbably, during this vicarious incubation he is supplied with food, until the young he is hatching commence, in return for his services, to gnaw his bowels as their repast. It is in vain that, during the scene above described, you urge the cockroach to seek safety by flight. poke of a stick is disregarded, he seems dead to all hints; nay, move him to another part of the wall, he awaits there, with the same stolid indifference, the return of his tormentor. Probably a sly thrust is given him in the first meeting of noses, or some leprous distilment dropped into his ear, for he has entirely the air of being hocussed." The KEEP THEM OUT.-"I don't want to hear naughty words," said little Charlie to one of his school-fellows. "It does not signify," said the other boy, "they go in at one ear and out at the other." “No,” replied Charlie, "the worst of it is, when naughty words get in they stick; so I mean to do my best to keep them out." That is right, keep them out, for it is sometimes hard work to turn them out when they once get in. QUERY 1.-HOW DID THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS OBTAIN SALVA- ANSWER.-They obtained salvation by faith in Christ. It is true that after man fell, 4,000 years elapsed before Christ came and died. There were important reasons for this delay of Christ's coming. But there was no delay at all in the blessings of salvation. For on the day that man fell, the promise of a Saviour was given, and from that moment salvation was obtainable. For, seeing God is unchangeable, his promise was just as sure as if it had been immediately fulfilled; and being sure, it was equally effectual. Hence, faith in a Saviour promised was just as efficacious as faith in a Saviour given. Abel found it so, for when he embraced the promise by faith he obtained witness that he was righteous; and to be accounted righteous by God is to be justified and saved. As a martyr, Abel expired in the triumphs of the covenant he had received. Enoch found the same efficacy in the promise; for in embracing it by faith, he walked with God, and had this testimony that he pleased God; and this implies that he enjoyed the favour of God, and enjoyed it so fully that he was taken to heaven, body and soul, without dying; for Enoch by faith was translated, that he should not see death. Noah found the same efficacy in the ancient promise of a Saviour; for it is said that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord; he was a just or justified man, and walked with God; and as evidence of his personal salvation, he was preserved alive with his family in the ark, when a guilty world was destroyed in a tempest of Divine wrath. In like manner all other Old Testament saints were saved by faith in Christ even as we are. They believed in a Saviour promised, we believe in a Saviour given; they believed in a Saviour who was to come, we believe in a Saviour who has come; their faith looked forward to a great fact of the future, our faith looks backward on a fact of history, a fact recorded. Neither they nor we see the Saviour with eyes of flesh, but both contemplate him with the eye of faith. Our faith may have a clearer and more definite view of Christ than theirs, because we have the full record of his marvellous teachings, doings, sufferings, and triumphs; but clearness is not essential to strength; and we have evidence that their faith, though less clear, was equally strong. It took right hold and fast hold, embracing all that was revealed in the promise; and thus, taking hold of Christ promised, they were saved, and saved so fully, that some were ready for heaven without dying, and others were so holy that they stand forth as bright examples of pure morality, deep experience, and lofty attainments in the life of God. It is in this sense that Christ is said to be the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. By purpose, by covenant, and by promise he was then destined to be slain; and the purpose, covenant, and promise rendered him as much a Saviour to all believers as though he had actually been slain on the day the promise was made. Blessed be God for such a Saviour! Let all men call him blessed! Dear reader, can you call him blessed? If not, you may do so, and you may do it now. You need him, and he loves you. He died for you; he is waiting to save you now, just whilst you are reading these words. Rest on him now, and keep resting on him as your Saviour, and you shall see the salvation of God. QUERY 2.-HOW CAN MAN, WHO IS ONLY A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, HAVE NO PRE-EMINENCE OVER A BEAST? DEAR SIR,-In Psalm viii. 4-7, I read thus: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field." But I read in Ecclesiastes iii. 19, 20: "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." Please to explain these two contradictory passages, and you will greatly oblige, respectfully yours, J. J. ANSWER.-Man has two natures-the body and the soulunited in one person, yet distinct in their nature and attributes: |