seen and heard till He should be risen from the dead. Had the three told it upon coming down, they would immediately have been accused of plotting with Christ a deception upon the people. After He was risen from the dead, and had been seen by others as well as themselves, their account of the transfiguration would be believed as a thing quite possible and probable to have happened to One who had the power to raise Himself from the dead.

The

The Jews had learned from the prophet Malachi (chap. iv. 5, 6), that Elijah the prophet should come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and that he should turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children. Baptist did come in the bold and commanding spirit of Elijah, reproving kings, rulers, and people for their sins, and yet the Jews saw not in him the promised Messenger of the Christ, but did unto him what they liked. A wicked king killed him, as we have seen, because a bad woman wished to get rid of so faithful a speaker against sin, of which she was so fond. What the bad Jews listed or liked all sinners like, namely, to get rid of faithful teachers who will not see them sinning without telling them of it. Do you, my dear family, pray to be better minded, and do not put aside your Bibles, nor keep away from church, because you read or learn some things that cut deep into your corrupt hearts, and that lay bare your favourite sins. He that hateth reproof is brutish and destroyeth his own soul, which will not go to Christ to be saved, till some faithful word of God lets it know that it is so sinful, that it cannot enter in that state into Heaven, but must first be washed in the blood of the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world.-A Layman.

ANECDOTES.

SOME years ago, a friend of a clergyman said to him, "Sir! you have just as many children as the patriarch Jacob." "True," answered the good old divine," and I have also Jacob's God to provide for them."

The following anecdote was related by a credible person whose father had it from one who lived during

the Plague in London, and who was well acquainted with the nobleman to whom it refers:

Lord Craven lived in London when that sad calamity raged. His house was in that part of the town since called (from the circumstance of Craven-house being situated there) Craven buildings. On the plague growing epidemic, his lordship, to avoid the danger, resolved to go to his seat in the country. His coach-and-six were accordingly at the door, his baggage put up, and all things in readiness for the journey. As he was walking through the hall with his hat on, his cane under his arm, and putting on his gloves, in order to step into his carriage, he overheard his negro (who served him as postilion) saying to another servant, "I suppose, by my lord's leaving London to avoid the plague, that his God lives in the country and not in the town." The poor negro said this in the simplicity of his heart, as really believing that there were many gods, who dwelt in particular places. The speech, however, struck Lord Craven very sensibly, and made him pause. "My God," thought he, "lives every where, and can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will stay where I am. The ignorance of that negro has preached a useful sermon to me. Lord, pardon that unbelief and that distrust of thy providence which made me think of running away from thy hand." He immediately ordered his horses to be taken off from the coach, and the luggage to be brought in. He continued in London, was remarkably useful among his sick neighbours, and never caught the infection.

Fox, the martyrologist, tells us of one Mr. Crow, an English seaman, who, being shipwrecked, lost all his property, and was obliged, when shifting for his own life, to throw what little money he had, which was five pounds, into the sea. But he would not part with his New Testament, and therefore, having tied it round his neck, he committed himself to a broken mast; on which having floated for four days, he was at last discovered, and taken up alive, all the rest of the ship's crew being drowned.

A friend of Mr. Dod's being raised from a mean

estate to much worldly greatness, Mr. Dod sent him word that "This was but like going out of a boat into a ship; and he should remember that while he was in the world he was still on the sea."

Luther had this passage in his last will and testament; "Lord God, I thank thee that thou hast been pleased to make me a poor and indigent man upon earth. I have neither house, nor land, nor money to leave behind me. Thou hast given me wife and children whom I now restore to thee, Lord; nourish, teach, and preserve them as thou hast me."

Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, when they told him that the Goths had sacked Nola, and plundered him of all that he had, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Lord, thou knowest where I have laid up my treasure!"

"I had rather do the least good work," said Luther, "than obtain all the conquests of Cæsar and Alexander."

Aristides, a wise heathen, would lend but one ear to any one who accused an absent party, and used to hold his hand on the other, intimating that he reserved an ear for the party accused.-From Toplady's Anecdotes.

ARAB PROVERBS.

THE first of wisdom is the fear of God.

The sluggard becomes a stranger to God, and an acquaintance with indigence.

Poverty without debt is independence.

Listen, if you would learn; be silent, if you would be safe.

By six qualities may a fool be known: anger without cause, speech without profit, change without motive, inquiry without an object, putting trust in a stranger, and wanting capacity to discriminate between a friend

and a foe.

As the sick body is not profited by food, so the vain mind is not benefited by admonition.

Let industry and diligence be to thee as a coat of mail, and avoid the company of the mean, the foolish, and the avaricious.

Avoid the things which concern thee not; none can prosper without doing so.

Avoid the society of the backbiter, and trust not in him. No man has excited the hatred of the world, unless he have excelled.

Curtail thy sleep and increase thy knowledge: he who knows the value of his object despises the pains it costs him.

Study the law with all thy mind, and be not drawn away from it by the search after worldly goods, or by domestic cares.

Seek knowledge, and neglect it not; for all good things are far from the negligent.

Fear God, for that fear dwells not in the heart of man, without raising him towards heaven.

Increase of knowledge is a victory over idleness; and the beauty of knowledge is rectitude of conduct.

Of an empire, large as Cæsar's, how small a portion suffices for my wants; and though I have an ocean to quench my thirst, how small a draught allays it.

Choose a sword by its blade, and not by the scabbard: respect a man for his worth, and not for his apparel. Dread the dire account thou hast to give; for, without doubt, all is reckoned and written down.

If in thy time calamity assail thee, and difficulty environ thee, pray to thy God: He ever inclines to the humble-hearted.

Be contented, for in contentment is peace of mind— ambition hath none.

Weigh every word before thou utterest it, and join not in too much conversation, lest thou perish.

When wealth becomes scarce in one country, and subsistence precarious, remove to another: God's earth is widely spread from east to west.

Shun the liar; he is an unfit companion and a bad friend.

May heaven forgive the errors of the propounder of these maxims; of him who receives them; and of them

who carry away knowledge from the receivers !-From "Madden's Travels."

POTATOE DISEASE.

IT may seem premature to speak at present of storing the crop for winter. Nevertheless, there are those who are already anxious to be informed upon that point. Of all the experiments that were tried last year, nothing answered so well as cold. In the presence of a low temperature the chemical changes connected with the disease cannot go on, and we entertain no doubt, that if it were practicable to keep potatoes in a temperature of 35 degrees they would remain perfectly safe. It is within the knowledge of many persons, that potatoes left in the ground, especially in cold heavy soil, remained all the winter long without the disease making progress. Indeed we ourselves had specimens in March, from which all the diseased parts had rotted out, leaving a large portion sound, but having crusted. Cold was to all appearance one of the great causes of this, but not the only one. Exclusion of air was also important, and this was tolerably secured by leaving the potatoes in the ground.

That moisture was fatal to the potatoes was true; but it was moisture combined with warmth and exposure to air. That mere wet exercised no injurious influence was shown by what happened to potatoes thrown into bog-holes; they were preserved in the water better than if they had not been immersed. That access of air was very detrimental was manifest in what were called ventilating pits, which aggravated the evil they were intended to cure, whenever the temperature rose. No ventilation could be more perfect than where potatoes were packed clean and dry in sacks, standing in an open shop, and yet we all know how much the finest samples suffered in those situations.

For these reasons, as it would not be advisable to leave land occupied all winter with an underground crop, nor indeed is it necessary to do so, we recommend potatoes to be clamped on the following plan:-Select a piece of land well shaded by trees on the north side of a building,