principal part of their labours, which have been attended with cheering success. Our limits forbid a more detailed account of the proceedings of the society;* but we have great pleasure in commending it to the attention of our readers. The number who share the labour of visitation is at present disproportionately small, and the society is much cramped in its exertions for want of more liberal support, which it so justly merits. Happy shall we be if this brief notice should be the means of stirring up the minds of zealous Christian ladies to labour in this work of mercy, or of inducing the wealthy to devise liberal things for its support and extension. LESSONS FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. No. 1.-THE HARVEST HOME. FREQUENT allusions are made in scripture to the productions and phenomena of nature, which would seem not only to authorize the delight we take in them, but even to enjoin as a duty our observation of them. Rich and varied are the lessons which the Bible furnishes on these subjects. Sometimes they are presented to us as figures: "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.' Or we are led to them for instruction : Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' If it be permitted us, we shall, * Further information respecting this valued society may be obtained of the secretaries, Mrs. Steinkopff, Savoy, Strand, Miss Robarts, 62, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, and Miss Sturges, Plaskett Cottage, East Ham, Essex. as the seasons fulfil their course, read each month a lesson from the ample book of nature, and seek the corresponding leaf in the volume of inspiration, hoping that our chapters may not prove wholly uninteresting to the class of readers for whom they are designed, and trusting that the constant reference to scripture may lead them to look for God in all his works. There is no more agreeable recreation than that of walking in the country, and to such of our readers as have it in their power we would earnestly recommend it. The indoor employments of females are generally of a sedentary character, and the fascinations of the pencil, the piano, and the needle, are apt to be indulged in to an extent injurious to health and occasionally to the mind also. Much has been written on the advantages of the exercise of walking to bodily and intellectual health, and it is not too much to add that spiritual health may likewise be advanced by the practice. Not only shall the frame be strengthened by the pure air and needful exertion, the mind refreshed by the changeful scene, and the taste gratified by varied beauties, but the spirit shall rejoice in the wonders of creation, shall contemplate with awe the infinite power of God, or dwell with love upon his all-pervading care and bounty. Perhaps there is no time more desirable than the present for a country ramble. The sun's heat is moderated, but his brilliancy is scarcely lessened; there is a delightful freshness in the breeze, which invigorates the body and imparts buoyancy to the spirits. The trees still retain their foliage. The majesty of the oak, the beauty of the elm, and the grace of the beech are yet unimpaired. But autumn has begun to colour them with his own hues, and here and there we are made sensible that the work of decay has commenced. In idea we are retracing a lovely path but recently trodden and are watching the shadows of the trees playing on the turf beneath. Our eye now glances over the fields which lately stood so thick with corn; they have been robbed of their golden spoil: the harvest has been reaped; the barns are filled. How many important reflections does the sight of the naked land suggest! The harvest has been reaped ; our prayers for " daily bread" are answered, and the song of thanksgiving rises to our lips: "Praise the Lord, oh my soul! and forget not all his benefits." And, whilst we continue to petition for the meat that perisheth, let us not neglect to seek the bread of life, which can sustain us through eternity. The harvest is reaped, the wheat is preserved, and the weeds have perished; we are taught to regard. the harvest as a type of that dreadful day when "the Lord of the harvest Ishall come to garner his wheat and burn the tares. Who can abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appeareth? Those only who shall have righteousness imputed to them for Christ's sake. Shall we not then, while it is called to-day, seek this only way of salvation? L. N. . FASCINATING SNARES. MANKIND are drawn into the pursuit of evil, and secured in it, by false pretences and false expectations. They call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. The great adversary of the human family presents his temptations in forms adapted to fascinate and so to delude them; and too often is he successful in bearing their spirits up to his enchanting heights. "For this purpose," as a powerful writer remarks, "he commonly employs some outward means, These he will gather for instance from the fine arts, as they are every way abused to worldliness and the pleasures of sin. Thus at one time it is a beautiful picture, at another the witcheries of poetry, at another the sweetness of melody, or the sublimity of musical composition, whereby he dissolves their spiritual firmness. Sometimes, if only some sweet mazy melody softly undulating from a distance be listened to, as one sits musing in the solitary chamber, his sorcery may prove successful. For now, as if created by his mighty fiat, will a new paradise of entrancing felicity suddenly arise in the imagination, and the soul is transported into an earthly heaven, as through a veil suddenly rent in twain. Youthful delights, and some of them not the most innocent, to which we had long ago bid a final farewell, reappear in all their strength and freshness; and forbidden gratifications, to which perhaps we had been for years crucified and dead, reinvite in their most attractive form, in their most captivating power of allurement. Here hang wreaths of that glory which fadeth away, but how honourable and desirable do they again seem to our imagination! There the merry faces of old worldly friends, around the loaded board of their hospitalities and luxuries, seem so to have revived that we even hear again the loud laugh pealing at the raillery or ambiguous witticism of their remarks; and perhaps in our very solitude we are excited to join the loud laugh once more. Are not unholy sympathies on such occasions rekindled within us, and often in dulged, so as to supersede for a while all relish of spiritual things? In such a state of mind perhaps are unfolded to our imagination the scenes of mirth and song, where the harp resounds to the dance and all is animation and entertainment; or our thoughts may flit over the enchanted meads and rosy bowers of lovely poesy, and in either manner be equally carried away. In a word, whatever of this world is beautiful or valuable may in a moment captivate the fancy, enchain the thoughts, and seduce the heart. Trifling as such things may at first appear, a train of sins may commence from them; the soul may hereby become untuned for converse with God and things divine, and the most lamentable consequences may ensue. There are conditions of mind that may easily befal you; and, when they do, you may consider it as the devil showing you the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, in a moment of time. For this very reason are the musical entertainments of the present day so dangerous a snare, because they are so available to the adversary for seducing us to declivities of sensual delusion. The symphonies and melodies, the concerts and operas, which are the charm of the world, serve with him at least as a powerful spell for transforming the perishable and worthless glories of this earth into an imaginary bliss that supersedes all real delight in the present and prospective glory of God's kingdom. "Even real Christians of considerable experience have confessed that music, apostatized music, severed as it is from the service of God and inspired only by the spirit of the world, has at times so irresistibly fascinated them that, like persons infatuated, they have been half ready to regret having been brought out of Egypt and have almost envied |