left behind her a good confession, and, though dead, she yet speaketh: her closing hours of calmness and peace seem even now to speak to us in the language of the text: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." In alluding to this our departed sister, who died in the Lord, it must be remarked that, before the hour of sickness came, she had lived in the Lord, had by faith been made one with Christ, and become a new creature in Christ Jesus; old things having passed away, and all things having become new. Already had she made her peace with God; so that we rest assured her pardon was sealed in heaven before she went from this world and was no more seen. The victory of faith over the fear of death, and her sure confidence in the hope of a glorious resurrection, manifested themselves in her closing hours, when, as the time of her dissolution drew near, and she was struggling with great agony and difficulty of breathing, her lips poured forth the triumphant declaration of the apostle: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing." And but shortly before she expired she showed her glad wish to meet her Saviour, by exclaiming, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." O it is a consoling thought, tending to heal the wounded hearts of her bereaved relatives and friends, that her head is now resting on the bosom of Jesus; that she is not dead, but sleepeth, freed from sorrow and sickness and sin; sleeping, to awake again most joyfully on the morning of the judgment day. Our blessed Saviour himself hath said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die :" and we are told that, "if we can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." It was by this "belief" that each believer in early times was united to Christ: then, as since, "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." We may imagine a body asleep, and the head awaking and arising first, and then the limbs or members arising soon after wards: so in spiritual things (for with God a thousand years are as one day) Christ the head of the church has already risen from death, and believers, who are his members, will also presently rise after him. The example of our departed sister stands forth, to use St. Paul's words (Rom. xi. 14), to provoke you to emulation, that some of you may be saved, that you may emulate her as possessing greater riches than those of this world, having obtained the salvation of her immortal soul; for she has died in grace, died in full confidence of her heavenly inheritance. Her example, I say, stands forth that you may be emulous of her zeal to run with more diligence the Christian race, and be incited to rival her in obtaining the crown of glory. My brethren, in conclusion, I would ask, what think you of these things? what effect have they had upon you? are you still living without having made your peace with God? or are you now ready, with an account of your stewardship prepared, to wing your way to the realms above? Consider the different states of the believer and the unbeliever when death overtakes them: consider, ye who must sooner or later belong to the one or the other of these classes. If you have hitherto lived the life of the unbeliever, the life of one who cares nothing for these things, what a dreadful and overwhelming calamity will death be to you! Then an end will be put for ever to the smallest semblance of happiness; and the experience of woes unutterable will then begin. The sentence will then have been passed on such men-a sentence which no power can reverse: "Bind them hand and foot, and cast them into outer darkness, where shall be heard only weeping and gnashing of teeth." But to the believer death hath no such consequence: though all-powerful, it cannot injure him. Death dissolves every bond but one; the union of husband and wife, of brother and sister, of parent and child: it tears asunder friend from friend, and foe from foe. Death to these dissolves the cycle of time, and supplants it by eternity. But though it dissolves these, and so many other ties, yet the believer has one bond which it does not sever, one bond which it cannot break, one bond which is beyond its reachthe bond of faith which binds the believer to his beloved Lord, the bond which in this world had lashed him to that anchor of his soul sure and stedfast, which will be found the stronger when all other ties and unions fail, and draw him to a nearer and a closer fellowship with his glorious Saviour; for mortality, with all its clogging infirmities (those hinderances to a perfect union in this world), will be swallowed up of life, and will restore to the opened and out-stretched arm of an unveiled Redeemer the spirit of the departed who has died in the Lord. "Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery: he cometh up, and is cut down like a flower: he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay." "In the midst of life we are in death." And how many warnings have we of its nearness, when every friend and relation who dies amongst us says, as plainly as Isaiah did to king Hezekiah, "Set thy house in order, for thou shall die, and not live." But, brethren, though you have had many warnings, you may have no more: death may now come with the suddenness of a whirlwind upon you. No one can tell when the fated shaft is to be launched: and it comes often unexpectedly, that the dead may alarm the living. Nay, not unfrequently it comes like a lion leaping on its prey, like an earthquake in the dead of night, like sudden thunder in a serene sky. All are alike its victims, none can escape; for the scriptures tell us (Eccles. xii. 6), that "the silver cord must be loosed, that the golden bowl must be broken, that the dust must return to the earth as it was, but the spirit must return to God who gave it." And how soon, my brethren, may the hearts of some of those I am now addressing cease to beat! how soon may your blood cease to flow! how soon may your breath go forth, no more to return; and some one of this large assembly fall, no more to arise! O, if I am addressing any one who has not before seriously thought of these things, God grant that I may not even now address him in vain. Consider the words of our text: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Do you wish to die in the Lord? O "awake, then, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephes. v. 4). "Escape for your life. Look not behind you, neither stay you in all the plain: escape to the mountain," yea, even to Mount Zion," lest you be consumed" (Gen. xix. 17). Escape this moment and fly to the Saviour, lest the night overtake you the night in which you cannot work. Now is the accepted time: this is the day of salvation. We beseech you, by the mercies of God, dedicate yourselves, soul and body, henceforth and for ever, to his glorious service; so that, when death shall come, you may have nothing to do but to die, and may depart in peace as did our dear sister. You may then smile even in the arms of death, and say in the language of the apostle, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord." TREES AND SHRUBS. No. X. THE COCOA NUT. (Cocos nucifera). THE Cocoa tree is one of the most valuable productions of the east; so much so that, if extirpated, Hindostan and many islands would barely be habitable by human beings. It grows on the sand of the sea-shore, where scarcely anything else will vegetate; and hence it may be found in abundance in many of the new formed islands of the Pacific. The formation of these islands is thus described by captain Flinders (Voyage, vol. ii. pp. 115, 116):-"The coral sand and other broken remnants thrown up by the sea adhere to the rock, and form a solid mass with it as high as the common tides reach. This elevation surpassed, the future remnants being rarely covered fose their adhesive property, and, remaining in a loose state, form what is usually called a key upon the tops of the reef. The new bank is not long of being visited by sea birds: may be gathered four or five times in a year. There are no parts of the cocoa-nut tree which are useless. Meat and drink and clothing are furnished by it. When the nut is fully ripe, the kernel is ground down, and water being poured on it, a white pulpy substance is produced, which, with rice, form the principal and best food for all classes of natives in Ceylon; and, when accustomed to them, Europeans soon grow partial to it. The beverage which the green cocoa-nut affords is delicious. The inside, taken when quarter-ripe, may be eaten with a spoon, there being no difficulty in removing the pulp from the shell. salt plants take root upon it, and a soil begins to be formed. A cocoa-nut or the drupe of a pandorus is thrown on the shore; land birds visit it, and deposit the seeds of shrubs and trees; every high tide, and still more every gale, adds something to the bank: the form of an island is gradually assumed, and, last of all, comes man to take possession." All this indicates an adaptation of the plants which grow in this tropical region to this very peculiar formation. Forster (Voyage, pp. 14, 15), says that the recently formed islands of tropical seas are commonly 66 narrow low ledges of coral rock, including, in the middle, a kind of lagoon, and having here and there little sandy spots, somewhat elevated above the level of high water, on which cocoa-nuts thrive." Captain Cook, in referring to one of these islands about twenty miles in circuit, observes: "A very small part of it was land, which consisted of little islets, ranged along the north side, and connected by sand-banks and breakers. These islets were clothed with wood, among which the cocoa-nuts were only distinguishable." Mr. Ellis, referring to this subject, says: "Detached from the large islands, and viewed in connexion with the ocean rolling through the channel on one side, or the foaming billows dashing and roaring and breaking over the reef on the other, these appear like emerald gems of the ocean, contrasting their solitude and verdant beauty with the agitated element sporting in grandeur around. They are useful as well as ornamental. The tall cocoa-nuts that grow on their surface can be seen many miles distant; and the native mariner is thereby enabled to steer directly towards the spot where he knows he shall find a passage to the shore. The constant current, passing the opening, probably deposited on the ends of the reef fragments of coral, sea weeds, and drift wood, which in time rose above the surface of the water. Seeds borne hither by the waves or wafted by the winds found a soil on which they could germinate, decaying vegetation increased the mould, and by this pro-years, it becomes wholesome. cess it is most likely these beautiful little fairylooking islands were formed on the ends of the reefs at the entrance to the different harbours." (Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 4). In some of the South Sea islands the natives distinguish the nut by various names, according to its various stages of growth. When young, and before the kernel is formed, they call it "orio ;" when it has only a thin jelly within it, "nina ;" when the kernel becomes more palpable, "nimaha;" when harder still, “ omoto;" when quite ripe, "opaa;" and next, "uto." (Bennett and Tyerman's Voyage, vol. i. 30). To the extent of five varieties, the cocoa nut is indigenous to Ceylon, where it is designated the "pol-gaha;" but it is seldom if ever found to that number of varieties in the same plantation, except in the vicinity of a Budhoo temple. The first variety is the king cocoa-nut, of a bright orange colour, and usually presented as a compliment by the priests to respectable Europeans whose curiosity may have induced a visit to the shrine of Budhoo. The next in beauty is also of a bright orange, but a more spherical shape. The third is of a pale yellow, and rather heart-shaped. The fourt his the common cocoa-nut, of which Inillions are annually exported to Europe. The fifth is not larger than a turkey's egg. Cocoa-nuts are planted when ripe, and appear above the ground in three months. The trunk of the tree is a bundle of fibres, closely connected by a cementing matter. In about four years the trees have attained their height, seventy or eighty feet, and put forth blossoms. In twelve months after the trees bear fruit, which they do for sixty years. The nuts in a bunch or cluster seldom exceed twenty. In very favourable situations fruit The tree yields another liquid, equally refreshing, called palm-wine, or toddy. Two months after the blossoming of the tree, the capsulated flower is first tied, to prevent its expansion, and then cut, so that the juice may exude drop by drop. A supply is yielded morning and evening, the flower being cut a little every day. Europeans prefer toddy before sunrise, when it is particularly wholesome; but the natives prefer it after fermentation has commenced, which is in about three hours. In that state, bread-bakers use it as yeast, the bread made from it being remarkable for its lightness. The lower classes of Singalese often intoxicate themselves with fermented toddy during the hottest parts of the day. The tree also yields arrack, a distillation of fermented toddy, a hundred gallons of which produce twenty-five of arrack. This, when new, is considered injurious; but, after being kept some Another product of the cocoa-nut tree is oil, of which there are different ways of manufacturing. The Singalese process is simple. Ripe cocoa-nuts removed from the shell are pounded in a mortar, and, having been taken out and pressed, the liquid is boiled over a slow fire. The oil which floats being skimmed off, is then boiled by itself. Two quarts of oil will be obtained from fourteen or fifteen cocoa-nuts. When fresh, it is used in cookery. The oil is burnt in all houses. It is also used as ointment for the body and hair; and the refuse makes oil-cake for fattening pigs, poultry, and cattle. The liquid from it in a green state is used as a glue. The shells of the green nuts, when pared thin, are used as lanterns or lamps; also for ladles, skimmers, spoons; for making lampblack, and, when broken, they serve for fuel. The outer shells or husks, by steeping, furnish a fibrous matter, from which large ropes or small cords may be manufactured as good as if made from hemp; also brushes, mats, and bags; and of late years it has become a most useful article of manufacture in this country. Bedding, mats, and similar articles made from it, are found to answer many most important household purposes. The leaves are made into baskets for the conveyance of fruits and other articles, and used as torches by the natives. The CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE. branches, when split, furnish a covering for houses | if not, how can they perceive mental prayers?.... If and huts, as well as materials for many household articles. Seeley, in his account of Ellora, says, that when at Goa, in 1809, he lived with many others in a cocoa-nut leaf house; and that, although the period was in the very height of the monsoon, and the house was on the sea coast, it was comfortable and warm. The branches afford excellent stakes for fencing fields. kles. you suppose that, night and day, God is revealing to them what men do, and what they would have, it forges another impiety, and makes God a perpetual clerk, mediator, and drudge to his own saints. It introduces into Christ's office as many mediators to intercede with God for man, both by their sufferings angels; whereas the church knoweth none but one” and their merits, as there are with him saints and (Brevint). The cocoa-nut tree furnishes medicines. A decoction drawn from the root is considered most before whom we have no other Gods, and at Prayer.-0 thou, the only God and one Lord, efficacious in intermittent fevers. As a gargle, it whose feet all the angels of heaven and the removes complaints of the mouth and throat. In kindreds of the nations do worship, thee only will opthalmic complaints, the external application of the expressed juice of the nut, mixed with new we serve, thee only will we adore and praise. milk, mitigates inflammation. The expressed juice turn away from thee, who art jealous for thy holy Behold, what shall we answer thee, if our hearts of the flower, mixed with new milk, and taken in small quantities, affords almost immediate relief, creature more than thee, O Creator, and follow name, and thou reprove us in that we worship the and, if persevered in, a cure, in the debilitating after teachers of lies, and bow the knee before complaints of hot climates. The bark affords an oil which cures eruptions of the skin. The shell the work of men's hands? Though thine indigdumb idols, and put our trust in molten images, reduced to charcoal is used as an excellent tooth- nation tarry, it will surely come: yea, thou wilt powder, and the water of the green nut is the best of all cosmetics for clearing the skin from free-shall smoke against us, and all the curses that are not spare us; but thine anger and thy jealousy This paper cannot be better closed than by the written in thy book shall be upon us. O, prefollowing observations:-"The remarkable pro-quity which hath gods many and lords many; serve us, gracious God, from the mystery of iniperties detailed cannot be viewed without recog- and shield us, we beseech thee, for our alone adnising the hand of a beneficent and provident Cre-vocate Jesus Christ the righteous' sake, from the ator, who has not only bestowed this abundant and varied blessing on the originally habitable earth, but, foreseeing the formation of new islands from the depths of the wide ocean, the produce in remote ages of minute animalcules, gifted this vegetable production with every quality which might render it useful to the human beings who should be cast on these solitary coasts; and, fitting it to spring from a half-formed soil, provided it, in its buoyant and thickly-coated shell, with a boat, in which it might be wafted by the winds, the waves, and the tides, to such distant localities. The ways of the Almighty are always wonderful; but there is something in these adaptations of different departments of nature to preserve the lives, extend the numbers, and promote the comforts of human beings, which fills the mind with amazement and devout admiration" (Duncan's Philosophy of the Seasons). SABBATH MEDITATIONS. No. XVII. strong delusion which cometh, after the working of Satan, with signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; tempting us to fall down before other gods but thee, and in whom alone we have boldness to approach thy seek unto other mediators than him through faith mercy-seat and confidence that our prayers and supplications will be heard and answered of thee. mighty grace who leadeth into all truth, that We pray thee, implant in our souls, by his saving faith by which we may live and be just before thee, and through which our souls, not lifted up by the pride and foolishness of the natural heart, which yearneth only after the things seen, may be made upright in us. image, that the maker thereof hath graven it? Of a truth, Lord, what profiteth the graven Verily, verily, thy mouth hath spoken it, "Woe is he that saith to the wood, Awake! and to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, though it be laid over with gold and silver, there is no breath at all in the midst of it." O, keep us from following after wicked abominations, and OCTOBER 27.-TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER give us grace, by the confession of a true faith, TRINITY. Meditation." No saints or angels will take of creatures what they know to be due unto God only. Paul and Barnabas rent their garments to show that they were mere men. The good angels love us so well that they will not have us serve them, but the true God, and none else" (St. Augustin). "The calling on saints transfers to creatures that prerogative of God's glory, and that special part of his worship, which, in holy scripture, doth comprehend his whole service....It makes saints to be what the Holy Ghost alone is, searchers of men's hearts and thoughts, and present over all the world; to acknowledge no glory but thine, the eternal Trinity, the omnipotent Jehovah. Enable us, in the power of thy divine majesty and in the beauty of holiness, to worship thee, the one God and our Father, of whom are all things; and thee, the one Lord, Jesus Christ, who art before all things, and by whom all things consist; and thee, O God the Holy Ghost, by whom we are renewed and sanctified, and cry, "Abba, Father!" Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God, for ever and ever. Amen. EVENING. "Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."-PHIL. i. 27. Meditation. "The saints have in common one God, one Christ, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one bap tism, one hope: they communicate with one another in all duties of piety and charity, by mutual help and assistance in times of persecution, by mutual beneficence and liberality in time of want, and by mutual participation of one another's prayers.... We bless God for them, rejoice at their bliss, give thanks for their labours of love, and pray that, with them, we may be partakers of the heavenly kingdom. They pray for us, for our consummation and bliss, and rejoice at our conversion. Such may be denominated saints in the church militant, who not only believe the doctrines of the Christian religion, but conform their whole lives to the principles of it; such who not only have a holy faith, but are purified thereby; who have a sincere regard to God and another world in all their acting; who abstain from all kinds of evil, 'perfecting holiness in the fear of God'" (Nelson). Prayer. Grace be unto us, and peace, from thee, O God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. O King eternal, we beseech thee to endue us with unfeigned love towards them which be members of the body of Christ, and to keep alive this spirit of love in our hearts; that, upon every remembrance of them, we may always, in every prayer of ours, make request for them with joy, and magnify thy holy name, in that thou preservest us in the fellowship of thy gospel. We confess, Lord, that it is thine hand alone which has begun this good work of faith, and obedience, and brotherly unity in our souls. Of thine abundant mercy, we pray thee to help and strengthen us by thy good Spirit; that we may grow in grace and true holiness, and, continuing stedfast in thy faith unto the end, may be made heirs of thy great salvation in the day of Christ. Poetry. THERE NEVER WAS AN EARTHLY DREAM*. THERE never was an earthly dream Of beauty and delight, That mingled not too soon with clouds, As sun-rays with the night, Where once it loved to stay, For having felt its sway. There never was a glad bright eye But it was dimmed by tears, Caused by such griefs as ever dull The sunshine of our years: We look upon the sweetest flower; "Tis withered soon and gone : We gaze upon a star, to find But darkness where it shone. A mind of worth and power, The laurel on the brow hath hid From many a careless eye On earth a precious spring, Unfailing we may bring: All changeth on this troubled shore, O for that world where joy and peace Give us fervently to have in our hearts them which be partakers with us in thy grace: incite us to share cheerfully their burdens with them, when they labour under bonds of affliction or persecution for righteousness' sake; and enable us to count all loss and sacrifice gain, if so be we may become instruments with them in the defence THE PILGRIM'S ASCENT FROM THE PLAIN and confirmation of the gospel. Yea, be thou our record, good Lord, how greatly we long after them; how, from the ground of the heart, we seek to love them with the same love wherewith Christ loved us. And this, likewise, we pray: that we may abound more and more in thy love, and in all knowledge of thee and thy will, and in spiritual judgment; to the end that, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto thy glory and praise, we may approve things that are excellent, and be preserved sincere and without offence, until the coming of our Lord. O, let it be ours to watch and pray continually, that our conversation may be such as becometh thy gospel, and that we may abide, both in believing and in suffering in the behalf of Christ, in one spirit; even with one mind striving together for the faith of the same, thy glorious gospel. So shall thy work be made perfect in us: so shall we know and feel that unto us "to live is Christ, and to die is gain." S. K. C. OF CASHMERE. (For the Church of England Magazine.) As, journeying o'er the wide-spread plain, The pilgrim traveller early hies, Anxious the mountain's foot to gain, Whose sun-bright summit props the skies, Though long and steep the mountain bends, Yet smooth the ascending path appears, And on his eager steps he wends, While flattering hope his spirit cheers. But, as he strives to reach the goal, Deep yawning gulfs, unseen before, Arrest his steps, fierce tempests howl, And dark, impetuous torrents roar. Yet does he, undismayed, pursue His course, while still his eager eyes, Far raised above the tempest, view The cloudless, sun-bright summits rise. From "Thoughts suggested by a few bright names," and other poems; by Emma Bloodworth. Sudbury: Pulcher; London: Longmans. We owe an apology to the authoress of this little book for not having sooner noticed it. Some of the pieces it contains appeared first in our pages. Miss Bloodworth is ther fore known to our readers, and, we will venture to add, prized by them. It is almost superfluous, therefo e, for us to say that the volume contains much graceful poetry, and that we cordially recommend it. One piece. however, "Pictures in Churches," we could wish omitted.-ED. |