good of Zion," rather than the comfort thinks of His cruel murderers, and offered by "Zion's daughters." "Women of Jerusalem," He says, "weep not for me; but weep for yourselves!" and He warns them of the coming destruction of their city! Jesus is hanging on the cross! Never was there such an hour as this in the history of the universe. Who but God can measure the greatness of our Saviour's sufferings when nailed to the accursed tree? "There was no sorrow like His sorrow." Can He think of others then? Yes. The infinite love which brought Him into the world in order to live and die for others; which enabled Him, for the salvation of guilty men, to drink the cup in Gethsemane, and to endure the cross, and despise the shame on Calvary; that self-sacrificing love was displayed to all around Him, while "wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." He thinks of His weeping, agonized mother, and commends her to His beloved disciple, saying,-" Woman behold thy son-son behold thy mother!" He thinks of a dying thief, who cries, "Remember me!" and gives peace to his troubled soul by the blessed assurance, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." And before He resigned His Spirit into His Father's hands, He cries, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do!" Such is Jesus. Well might the Apostle say, "He pleased not Himself." And such is the "mind" which must be in us if we are "in Him." "We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself. Now the God of patience and consolation, grant you to be likeminded one toward another, according to (i. e. after the example of) Jesus Christ." Let the enmity to the living God which is in our natural hearts, be slain by faith in His love to us through Christ,—and then shall all enmity to our fellowmen be slain also. Let God's love to us be shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and then shall these hearts be shut no longer by wicked selfishness against our neighbour. Let us carry our Lord's cross, and then we shall carry our brother's burden. "Hereby," says the apostle John, "perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." "This is my commandment," says our Lord, "that ye love one another, as I have loved you!” JOTTINGS FROM MEMORY, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS, OF TRAVEL. No. II. THE ATLANTIC. I MUST now give you some account of our passengers. We have about seventy. Some of them have not been seen on deck since we lost sight of land. It is amusing to one who rejoices in the sea, and luxuriates in its fresh breeze, to watch the change which takes place in those less accustomed to its waves. During the first day of the voyage-especially when the weather is favourable the dinner table is crowded. The deck, at evening, is noisy with busy feet, and merry voices. But when the ocean swell sets in, and the giant vessel begins to rise and fall upon its long blue ridges, what a sudden revo lution takes place! The colour quite forsakes the countenance of the unfortunate sufferer; he acquires a hue of gravest sadness; he sits down; his eyes are shut; he draws his cloak around him; or, grasping the nearest support, he staggers to some seat selected for him by one who assures him that "it is the best place in the ship." Here he stretches himself, or sits in solitude. He is dead to all the world. No word escapes his lips-no look of friendly recognition beams in his eyes. He abhorreth all meat-land is his only longing. He finally descends to his berth, and amidst the creaking of bulk-heads, the whistling of steam, the rapid thump of paddles, and the dash of the wave against the sides of the rolling vessel, he tries to sleep; or, if waking, seeks in vain to account for his bravery, or his folly, in encountering, for any consideration, such gnawing and helpless misery! Such was the history, for some days, of all the lady, and of most of the gentlemen passengers; so that not a third of the seventy formed our party upon deck during the greater part of our short voyage. Among those who remained, were several of that class vulgarly termed "old stagers;' such as American merchants, who every year cross and re-cross the Atlantic, once at least. We found them, generally speaking, kind-hearted, frank, and agreeable men-full of good-natured fun; entering with much intelligence into the discussion of every question of general interest, whether affecting churches or states. Besides these, we had one or two silent, "aristocratic," and pompous slaveholders from the South; an American missionary returning from India to recruit his health; an English clergyman going to bring home a lady as his wife from Canada, where he had served as an officer of artillery; a Roman Catholic Bishop returning to his American diocese; a Roman Catholic Professor of Theology in Quebec, returning to his College, after a long tour through Palestine, Asia Minor, and Europe: such was the character of our society. The time, I assure you, passed, to me at least, most pleasantly. There was no want of conversation, all day long, upon interesting subjects. The admirable missionary, Mr. B—, was full of information regarding the difficulties, trials, successes, and prospects of the cause of Christ in India, and of the mission with which he was connected at Ahmednuggoor, near Bombay; and, like every one whom I have ever met who was really acquainted with the present state of India in relation to Christianity, Mr. B was deeply convinced that heathenism is tottering to its fall, and that a breach has been made in its fortress, by which the Christian Church may enter in, if it has only the zeal, faith, and self-sacrifice to do so. The English clergyman possessed that The sight of their breviaries, and the peep ** * * The weather for the last day or two has become chilly. The captain says, we may hourly look out for ice. At this season of the year it passes our sun. tract, on its slow voyage to the warm south, where it melts away in the high temperature of the gulf stream. Navigation amidst ice is at all times more or less dangerous; whether the ice occurs in the form of icebergs, or in large flat masses, which are difficult to discover, even during the day, amidst the waves. **This afternoon we were all attracted to the starboard quarter of the ship by the announcement of "Icebergs." The day was beautiful, the sky serene,-the sea ruffled only by a pleasant breeze, before which we were running at the rate of about twelve knots an hour with all sail set, and the steam blowing off at the funnel-head. On the distant horizon was seen a white silvery speck, gleaming and sparkling in the By and bye another appeared-a third-a fourth; and the specks soon began to assume more definite forms; and as we rapidly neared them, we found ourselves passing close to towering icebergs. I cannot tell what a strange impression these made upon me; there is something so mysterious in their whole history. When was the keel laid of that huge one, like a hundred decker, which kept in sight so long to-day? Perhaps at the period of the Covenanters, if not earlier! No eye but that of its Maker beheld it in some unknown region between Spitzbergen and the Pole, slowly building beneath stormy blasts and snowy drifts; then broken off from the glacier bed, and launched into the great deep, to commence its solitary voyage of many thousand miles, impelled by the irresistable ocean tide; at last to disappear and be absorbed into the element from which it was made; and, in its final destruction, to be as unnoticed by human eye as in its early formation. Yet these very icebergs, in cooling the temperature of the air and of the Southern Ocean, perform an essential and important service in God's world. He has made nothing in vain. All His works are still very good. The scene this evening was magnificent beyond description,-I shall never forget it. The sun descended to the horizon like a huge globe of burnished gold. A few fleecy clouds hung their gorgeous drapery above the departing orb, whose last rays were reflected from the glittering peaks of a majestic iceberg, and lighted up a glowing pathway across the dancing waves, along which we were rapidly gliding with every stitch of canvass spread. As the sun touched the sea-line, it seemed, for a moment, to pause, then slowly sunk, until there remained but a single brilliant speck of gold, which, in a second, disappeared, leaving us in twilight. To add to the striking character of the scene, a large whale near us, ever and anon, lifted his black back above the waves, and spouted his column of water into the air. You will be surprised to hear, that such sunsets are by no means common. One of the passengers remarked, that "he had crossed the Atlantic eight times, and had never seen a good sunset ;" the horizon being generally hazy. * * The brilliant sunset was followed by a day of gloom, and a night of danger. Yesterday a thick fog wrapped us in its cold grey mantle. Immediately before it came on, we hailed a small brig, on her homeward voyage from America to Alloa. She was the first sail we had spoken on the passage. In answer to the question, "Have you met much ice?" we received the unwelcome reply, "Yes, a great deal!" and on further inquiry, we found that we should probably reach, during the night, the latitude in which the brig had encountered the ice in such quantity. This news was followed by the fog; and no "Scotch mist" which you have ever witnessed, not even the densest "eastern haar" which ever visited Edinburgh from the northern ocean, can be compared with the fog upon the banks of Newfoundland. On it came like a great stream of dense palpable cloud, rushing over us. It was no thin vapour, which vanished before your immediate presence. It met your face, and blew into your eyes. Standing at the stern of the vessel it was impossible to see her bow. The ship became dim at the funnel, and was invisible at the bowsprit. It was anything but a pleasant prospect to go plunging on, at full speed, with the darkness of night, added to the darkness of day, through an ocean strewed with icebergs. It was like sailing at midnight through an Archipelago of rocks without a chart. To come in contact with the one, would prove as certainly and as immediately fatal to us, as to come in contact with the other. I walked the deck alone, before descending to my berth for the night. Forward at the bow stood the watch on the look-out, peering through the darkness; and as the ship's bell tolled the passing hour, the ear caught their pleasant cry of " All's well!" In the engine-room the swinging lamps, and huge furnace fires, as their burning throats were opened to receive their supply of fuel, shed a lurid glare upon the wonderful machinery which impelled our vessel onward. Day and night, since we left Liverpool, and along a path of nearly three thousand miles, had those valves opened, and polished rods moved, and great levers worked, with unfailing accuracy, driving us, with resistless energy, against wind and waves. Sometimes, when a heavy sea struck the ship, the giant iron arms, which turned the immense paddles, seemed to pause for a second, as if to gather all their strength into one effort of indomitable power; and then would they calmly and majestically revolve, and force the gallant vessel, amidst mist and darkness, through the roaring sea. When even puny man is wondrous in his works, what is man's Maker! The quarter-deck was occupied by the captain and chief officer only. Under deck the helmsman all alone grasped his wheel, keeping his eye fixed on the compass, which shone brightly beneath the binnacle light. The huge monster, in spite of her 500 horse power, was mastered by his magic wheel; and strange, indeed, it seems, that "the ships, which, though they be great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the steersman chooseth." That same steersman is the very symbol of a Christian. He had nothing to do with how the wind blowed, or how the sea rolled, or whether it was light or darkness without; but to steer in the direction commanded him, and according to the compass before him, on which alone he had to fix his eye; just as the Christian is not to be guided by things as they appear,-by the roughness or smoothness-the darkness or clearness of his voyage. Enough for him if His Captain commands him; and God's Word, as his chart and compass, guides him in the way he should go. What has he to do but to trust both; and 64 Argue not And thus, in the end, he will be safely and surely brought to his desired haven ! In passing the windows of the saloon, a stricking contrast was presented between the scene without and within. Some of the passengers were playing cards. The few ladies present were knitAll were listening to ting fancy work. a foreigner who was singing various airs from the popular operas, which he accompanied with his guitar. One could not help feeling how soon and how suddenly all this might be changed for a scene of midnight desolation! Before retiring to rest, I naturally selected for my evening reading those portions of Scripture assoperils on the deep," the history of Jonah, the voyage of St. Paul, the 107th Psalm, and the like. How rich is Scripture in affording instruction and comfort suited to every occasion and Verses and pascircumstance of life. ciated with " sages which, perhaps, at one time, we almost passed over without any interest in them, become, at another period, of our history, so full of meaning, so precious to us, that we wonder why we never saw their rich beauty before. God indeed gives us "our meat in due season," liberally" supplies our wants. Ι and " lay down to rest, repeating the 23d Psalm; but while preserved from all slavish fear, I confess, that never was my mind more solemnized. Nor did I wish to banish the idea of danger; but rather to receive the good which the realizing of it might bring. I have been more than once in similar circumstances; and who has been so, without noticing how vividly one's whole life comes before them,-how faithfully memory and conscience do their work,-how, then, if at any time, we weigh things in just bal We have bid farewell to our American friends, who will have continued their voyage southward, before we can again meet. The passengers drank our healths with many kind words after dinner to-day. We have received cordial invitations from several to visit them if we go to the States. The Bishop and Professor joined in the same friendly expressions of good will. There was on board a tall Kentuckian. He wore large boots, great-coat, and broad-brimmed hat. He seldom or ever spoke,-but walked the deck in silence, chewing tobacco all day long. He was never absent from meals, ances,-how false, how empty every action, hopes to enter Halifax before morning. and state of being are felt to be, which have not been according to God's will, and have not fulfilled His purpose; and how blessed a thing it is, and, above all other blessings, to know God as our Father, and as the rest, and peace, and satisfaction of our soul, when we feel ourselves so entirely in His hands, and may, in a moment, be called into His presence! The wished-for morning at length broke. Most welcome were the sun rays streaming into our cabin, which announced another and a brighter day. The first object which caught my eye on reaching the deck, was what proved to be the last of the icebergs. We were sailing towards it, and soon passed within a few hundred yards of it. It seemed to have about an acre of surface. In the windward side, it rose about thirty feet, and sloped down gradually to leeward. The beating sea had scooped out a series of hollow caves in its precipices,-and nothing could exceed the exquisite beauty of the waves, as they rushed into these icy caverns, catching from their transparent walls an intense emerald green, which mingled with the pure snowy whiteness of their own crested heads. * We sighted land upon Sabbath morning, but passed it at a considerable distance. It was Cape Pine in Newfoundland. We had divine service on board, as on the former Sabbath. Those services are attended by the passengers, and also by the officers and crew. In the absence of a clergyman, the captain reads the service of the Church of England. After preaching, we found, as on the preceding Sabbath, a great disposition on the part of several of the passengers, to enter into frank and kindly conversation upon the truths expounded. As the subject of one of the discourses was the divinity of Christ, and the inseparable connection between this fact, and our love and obedience to Christ as our Saviour, one or two who had hitherto been Unitarians, discussed with much earnestness the views advanced, and with apparent sincere desire of knowing the truth. I hope those Sabbaths were not without their fruit. The captain tells us, that he and the only change which ever marked his countenance, was the smile which lasted during the hour after dinner, when the Yankees crowded into the covered place on deck, near the funnel, to sing Old Dan Tucker, and other "Nigger songs" in hearty chorus. I was not a little surprised, when this specimen of the west came up to me, asking, "Spect to visit Kentuck, Sir? Cause if you do, I shall give you three days as fine coon shooting as ever mortal enjoyed!" Though I had no hope of joining him in his sport, I was touched by his kindness. * * Amidst heavy rain, we ran up this morning, about five o'clock, to the wooden wharf of Halifax. The ship was discharging her cargo when we came up on deck. At that early hour we were met by friends who then began an acquaintance, which I hope will never end in this world or the next. In a short time we had bade farewell to that splendid steamer,-thankful for our short, but pleasant voyage, and landed on the shores of a new world, with new duties, new cares, new hopes and fears before us; but also new friends, and new labours of love, and an ever-present God as our hope and stay! THE TEMPEST. We were crowded in the cabin, |