THINGS OF OLD.

No. VI.

AMERICA.

It has been usual, with Biblical geographers, to allot the three grand portions of the old world to the three sons of Noah. And this with good reason; for although a few portions may have been possessed by some one of the families, in the territory of another, (as the Canaanites possessed Palestine,) yet the principal divisions still remain essentially the same. Shem and his sons colonized Asia,-Ham, Africa,and Japhet, Europe; and their respective descendants occupy these three quarters of the earth at this day.

The question then arises,—to whom was America alloted? and why were those vast continents raised from the ocean bed, whence we have already seen that our habitable world was elevated, at the deluge; they were not apportioned to some one of the main branches of mankind?

The object of the present paper is to answer this two-fold question; and I would sum up the reply in these few words-America was formed to be the stage whereon the destinies of the three sons of Noah should be acted out, in all their fulness of accomplishment.

Such, at least, is the idea which presents itself to

ship, and traded for, like "the beasts that perish,” to gratify the avarice of nearly every nation of Europe, and to be indeed servant of servants, in nearly every part of the Americas.

After even this hasty sketch, will my readers deny the position that these noble continents have been the platform whereon the earliest foretold destinies of mankind have been wrought out, and are still in progress of developement; the theatre where these vast events have been exhibited, as it were, before the gaze of a world?

Do we look for the servitude of Ham? Behold Mexico, Peru, the Caribs, the slavery of the United States and the West Indies! Do we seek for the enlargement of Japhet? See the immense colonies of Europe on the shores, nay, even in the very heart of the Americas. Let Brazil, Peru, New Spain, the Guyanas, the West Indies, the United States, the Canadas, all answer the inquiry. Japhet is enlarged indeed, he dwells "in the tents of Shem," not only in India, in Syria, in Siberia, but perhaps in the vast northern extent of America also.

Let us behold all this and wonder. "What shall we say then? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid; for how then shall God judge the world?" And verily he is "the judge; he taketh down one and setteth up another."

Well may our own favoured land be addressed in the apostle's emphatic language," Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell severity; but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." X. Q.

LUCUBRATIONS ABROAD.

No. II.

THE rich hues of advanced autumn varied the woodland landscape all around, and a bright October sun shed its brilliancy on hill and dale. The clear air, redolent with health and vigour, seemed calculated to speak to every heart of the benevolence of nature's Creator, who amid the perverse corruptions of the moral world, still continues to spread before the meanest of his creatures so many sources of innocent enjoyment. The heavy roll of cart-wheels, the tread of busy passengers, the din of the blacksmith's forge, and the distant murmur of continued traffic, were sounds which the wind occasionally wafted within hearing, on the steep hill that descends from the village of Mont Cassel along the road to Lille. No hallowed stillness marked the Sabbath morning. The inmates of the cottages continued their usual occupations, women plied the needle or the spinningwheel, or shared with the men in the labours of the field and shop; peasants passed to and fro, laden with the burdens of every-day life. One stout boy, who had climbed the narrow footpath that shortens the steep ascent, stopped where it joins the highway, to place his huge basket on the ground, and breathe for a few moments the rest his vigorous toil de

manded. His clothes were ragged and coarse in the extreme, and the primeval curse of man might be read in the big drops that stood in his unwashed features, as with ignorant wonder he stared at the stranger who regarded him. Alas! what a contrast did that stranger find in him to many of a similar class in his own native England, who walking tranquilly, or it may be joyously, to the village church, clad in their tidy Sunday clothes, regard the day that bids them put them on, as one of holiday and pleasure, if in no higher light. He soon passed on, regardless of the reflections he had awakened, and these soon yielded to higher; as he marked, just above the turn of the road where the footpath emerges from the thicket, and a rough bench is placed as a restingplace for the tired traveller, a small rude chapel dedicated to the Virgin. Within it is her image, with that of the infant Saviour in her arms, and a number of those tawdry offerings of superstition generally found in such places. Above the grating, through which the whole is seen, is an inscription in Flemish, apparently setting forth the peculiar piety and advantages of the prayers here offered. A small wooden projection serves to screen the devotee from the inclemencies of the weather, as he kneels before the shrine.

The generality of that morning's passengers had passed it by unheeding, but one approached who did not do so. An aged man bending under the weight of more than ninety years, now tottered feebly down the hill, supported by a strong staff. His appearance, independent of his great age, was such as to attract attention and awaken conjecture; the brown cloth coat, of most antique cut, the grey stockings drawn tightly

up his spindle shanks, as if to proclaim how little besides bone they covered; the large silver buckles that threatened to crush the long thin feet they ornamented and above all the powdered hair and threecornered cocked-hat seemed to tell of times when Mirabeau and Camille Desmoulins agitated the world. Imagination pictured him a humble sharer in those troublous scenes. The energy that sought fame or fortune in that fearful ocean of excitement, is now wholly spent, and its possessor driven into obscurity by the current of time; like some neglected shell that the tide of mighty waters has hidden in a dark cavern. But no-it was not so: no legend of historic interest clung to the fate of this humble individual, whose regret for more prosperous times solaced itself by a pertinacious adherence to the fashions of his youth. As he drew near the chapel he slowly turned aside into the little dip that marked its immediate precincts. The well-worn hat was venerably taken off, and laid down to form a kneeling cushion before the altar; the staff was as deliberately placed against the wall; his stiffened limbs reluctantly obeyed his will, and a full minute elapsed before they could be brought in contact with the ground; he then devoutly crossed himself, and clasping his withered hands together, remained some time in prayer, a touching picture of the helplessness of man, and of that innate conviction of immortality, which unsatisfied by any earthly hopes, leads him to seek communion with the unseen world!

In prayer! doubtless his prayer was sincere, it might be fervent-but-" there is but one Mediator between God and man," and alas! it was not to that Mediator he prayed!