forts of our happy English homes, never let us lose sight of the great, first cause; or, in remembrances of the past. and hopes for the future, forget, that "of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

February.

FEBRUARY has often been called a dreary month; and dreary it may be to those whose thoughts are in the world; who care only for the gaities of a crowded city, the fashionable lounge, or the festive ball-room.

One who has ever been a frequenter of the latter in the hey-day of youth will know how attractive it is; may have felt its allurements growing stronger and stronger, till the gay measure and the fascinating music have taken a hold upon the senses, and rivetted the faculties so powerfully, that it is difficult to break the enchanting spell. This is, perhaps, especially the case when beauty accompanies youth; for then the music and the dance are not the only alluring attractions of the ball-room. Open flattery, or a set compliment, would fall upon the ear of a sensible beauty, and leave no more impression upon the mind than a feather upon adamant; but the respectful and admiring gaze of those whose own understanding teaches them that complimentary speeches are but insults offered to the understanding of another, is far more dangerous, and must often have been felt to be so, even by those who have constantly before them

the truth that "all flesh is grass;" who have been taught to reflect that the eye beaming with radiance one moment may be closed in the sleep of death the next; that the rose blushing on the cheek one hour, may, ere time has marked another, have been plucked by the hand of the great destroyer; and, that the graceful form, gliding to-night amid the gay and glittering throng, may, ere to-morrow's sun has set, be numbered with the things that are not.

But why linger in thought in the ball-room? some reader may exclaim; surely it is foreign to the subject, and why should the month of February herald such a digression? Because it was one of Winter's "dreary" months that first aroused the feelings of the writer in favour of one of the beauties of Nature-hoar frost by moonlight; and it was on leaving a ball-room that the exquisite beauty and purity of the outward scene, every tree and every blade of grass, arrayed in such a covering of shining loveliness as could have been thrown over them only by Him who, when He had made all things, pronounced them "good,"-glittering as they were, in the moonlight, was contrasted with the scene within ;—and, for the first time, the ball-room and its attractions sank to their proper level.

Oh! who could ever gaze unmoved on such a scene! -the earth at rest, and all things looking calm and peaceful as innocence asleep-the trees, in their white and shining robes, reminding us of those in which we shall be clothed when we are unclothed of the body and have put on the garments of Christ's sanctifying righteousness, the moon and the stars, shining in yon deep,

blue, illimitable vault, elevating the thoughts and the heart of the humble Christian, and whispering that He who stretcheth out the Heavens like a curtain and telleth the number of the stars is the same great Jehovah and Almighty Father "who healeth the broken in heart."

It has not unfrequently been remarked, "There is something so cold in moonlight." But is it not its purity so diverse to the natural heart of man, that makes us think it cold? May it not be that, as we are of the earth, earthy, so that may be too much like the source of light-too heavenly for us to gaze upon without the humbling feeling of our own utter insignificance and unworthiness coming over our proud hearts? And yet it is a comforting and a glorious type of the love that covers our sins, and presents us to the eternal Judge, with His light so shining upon us, that all our dark phases are lost.

The great poet of the North has said,

"He who would view fair Melrose right
Go, visit it by pale moonlight."

If we gaze on the ruined abbey, or the stately castle of a by-gone age, with the full blaze of the noon-day sun shining upon it, and lighting up every crumbling stone which the chisel of the workman had, in days long passed away, enriched with curious device or antique tracery— we shall see, indeed, all its beauties, but we shall see too that its day of strength is over, and the fate of all things here below, stamped legibly upon it "decay."

And

would not the name "Death" be written upon our foreheads, if we stood in the presence of Him, who said, "let there be light;" if we stood in the presence of His unclouded majesty, without the great mediatorial High Priest, who is without spot or stain, to receive the full burst of effulgence, to cast around us His softening influence, and plead the great atonement; to cover all our sins with His own innocence, and clothed only in the light of His countenance, present us faultless to His Father in glory.

The mind becomes lost in contemplation when gazing upward, and we see star after star rise and set in neverending succession; and we can but wonder and be still, or fancy we hear the Infinite communing with His creatures now, as He did with Job

"Who on low earth can moderate the rein,
That guides the stars along th' ethereal plain?
Appoint their seasons, and direct their course,
Their lustre brighten, and supply their force ?
Canst thou the skies' benevolence restrain,
And cause the Pleiades to shine in vain ;
Or, when Orion sparkles from his sphere,
Thaw the cold season, and unbind the year;
Bid Mazzaroth his destined station know,
And teach the bright Arcturus where to glow?
Mine is the night, with all her stars; I pour
Myriads, and myriads I reserve in store.

Dost thou pronounce where day-light shall be born,
And draw the purple curtain of the morn;
Awake the sun, and bid him come away,

And glad thy world with his obsequious ray?
Hast thou, enthroned in flaming glory, driven
Triumphant round the spacious ring of heaven?

C