sitteth upon the throne. You employ your time just as you think proper, according as your inclination disposes you, without any other end in view beyond present gratification; and then, as time is sweeping swiftly on, it erases from your memory the trace of events that have engaged your attention, and you look upon them as past, and gone for ever: not considering that all the scenes in which you once took a part shall again be brought before your eyes; and unless every motive that prompted your heart can stand the scrutiny of an omniscient God, whose searching eye nothing can escape; that leaves no thought that passes through your mind, no word of your mouth, no action of your life, unrecorded in the book of his remembrance; unless you can abide this trying test, most certainly shall you be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Your comparatively harmless life seems to your deceived understanding to merit no such dire consummation. How can you realize the thought that this world which appears so abiding, in which, save that the fathers fall asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning, shall pass away, that your eyes shall witness the elements dissolving with fervent heat, the heavens being on fire, and the earth and all the things therein burned up? If you really believed this, would you not seek out a place of refuge, and prepare for its approach? But because you do not believe it, therefore you neglect all preparation; therefore those lines that you once sung with a solemnized and serious heart,

"Now, only now, against that hour,

We may a place provide ;

Beyond the grave, beyond the power
Of hell, our spirits hide,”—

It

fall upon your ears unheeded, they have ceased to excite any concern. is to be feared eventually, that, as a snare, that day shall visit you, and your sorrow come as desolation, and your destruction as the whirlwind. To my mind, your conduct exhibits a convincing demonstration, that Satan's utmost endeavours are directed against the hallowed principle of faith. He continually attempts to weaken and undermine it, so as to prevent its development, knowing that "by grace are we saved through faith;" saved from the pollution, power, and punishment of sin; from the snares of an alluring world, and from inbred corruption; that by faith we are brought into vital union with that Saviour, who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and who has promised that whosoever believeth on him shall be saved to the uttermost, from every possible hurtful influence, either in time or eternity, and from the power of the second death. Our righteousness, whereby we shall be enabled to stand the fiery ordeal of the last day, is entirely of God through faith. Therefore does Satan strive to darken and deceive the understandings of men, to close their ears that they should not hear, to blind their eyes that they should not see, lest, perceiving, they should understand and be converted, and Christ should heal them. We need not allude to the mournful success that everywhere crowns his efforts. Of this you are a fearful instance. If, as it is probable, by a long neglect of the cultivation of religious principles, you read your Bible with an inward conviction that its precepts, admonitions, and denunciations apply to other individuals, to times and circumstances widely different from yours; if you cannot now fully believe the words of Christ, call to mind the former days, and believe him for his works' sake, works which were wrought not only before your eyes in the

conversion of sinners around you, but also wrought in your own heart; works such as none other could have performed, divine, far beyond human power, and that none but the Son of God could have accomplished. If it were said to them of old, who, influenced by the customs and traditions of their forefathers, were naturally unwilling to throw off that religion in which they had at all times been instructed to trust, "How can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" how is it possible that you, who once accepted it, experienced its hallowing, saving influences, can cast it away from you, how is it possible that you can escape, if you continue in this state of impenitence?

Such are the solemn truths that we leave to your consideration. If that decree, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," has not yet gone forth against you, and desires are springing up which secretly incline you to seek after the former times, quench not that Spirit; other influences, mighty in power, of an ensnaring world and a malignant spiritual adversary, will soon beset your corrupt and fallen nature, nothing less than the power of an Almighty God can deliver you from the chain of bondage by which you are bound, can dissipate that cloud of delusion with which Satan has blinded your eyes, that night of error which hangs around your soul. A mightier work is now to be wrought than when you were first set free in the glorious liberty of the children of God; more strongly-rooted habits, and longer-cherished practices and prejudices, are to be broken through. Your conscience, now seared as with a hot iron, is again to be rendered susceptible; a heart harder than the nether mill-stone is again to be softened; habits of selfindulgence, long pandered to, are to be abandoned; and pride completely subdued. Fall down before your Maker; beg of him to commence and carry on within your soul that work of grace by which alone you can be saved. If no desires arise within your heart, and hardness and impenitence still reign there, and you can unmoved contemplate the arrival of death, as not likely to bring with it anything of trouble and disaster, the more reason have you at once to cry mightily unto God, that he would impart unto you a desire after spiritual things. What a number of motives urge you to return to God!-your friends, your relatives, who have gone to an eternal world, and, having slept in Jesus, are now at the right hand of God, with whom you once took sweet counsel, and went to the house of God in company; in whose society you delighted to contemplate those scenes which shall first burst on the eye of the disembodied spirit; on the glory that shall hereafter be revealed, and the friendship that commenced on earth should be perpetuated in heaven. The great secret to them has been solved to them all the joys and troubles, the pains and pleasures, the cares and anxieties, or peace and happiness, that they met during their earthly pilgrimage, are now subjects of indifference. Did you not see in their departure, that “ one thing" alone sustained them, one thing alone could they carry out of this world, the religion of Christ, which had been their treasure in life, and supported them in the hour of death? Can you deliberately determine to continue in a course of conduct, that must inevitably end in your final separation? Suppress not these first risings of feeling; cherish them, pray God to fix them deep, and, if possible, strike some chord, some tender part still accessible to sorrow and repentance. Satan, who was a liar from the beginning, will endeavour to draw off your mind from these subjects: he will tell you to disregard them, that they are mere fiction; he will repeat the first falsehood that he uttered to mankind,

"Ye shall not surely die;" he will represent every obstacle to your return to the paths of holiness in the strongest light; he will invent what does not exist, will spare no effort to deceive and blind your mind, to induce you to rest satisfied with the things which are seen; he will throw a false covering around the things and events which engage your attention, to lull you into security; he will strive to intimidate you with a dread of ridicule, in order to arouse your pride to avoid so humbling a step; by night and by day, he will lie in wait for your destruction, knowing that if he retain his hold upon your mind a little longer, death stepping in, or the day of grace being past, his diabolical malice will be crowned with success, your eternal destruction will be sealed, and your soul will be ruined to all eternity.

Be wise to-day, neglect not the present opportunity, delay not another moment the commencement of that great work which you came into the world to accomplish. Time is hurrying you on with irresistible force, not one step of which shall ever be retraced, not one instant recalled, not one lost opportunity regained; onwards you are speeding to that cloud of darkness which shrouds the close of the earthly career of all mortal beings. Reflect, while there is yet time for reflection. Should you once pass the barrier, however complete may be the comprehension of your folly, after having had all your ways placed in order before your eyes, and perfectly considered; however clear may be the illumination that bursts on your mind, as it regards the madness of the course which you followed, a great gulf will separate you from this world: you cannot return hither to retrieve past errors, though you may earnestly desire it, to warn your friends and posterity, that they come not to that place of torment. It will be a dreadful thing, if you do not discover, till after you have entered the eternal world, that it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world and lose his own soul; if then you first learn that there has been an immortal, responsible spirit committed to your charge, whose nature and existence you have overlooked, and whose wants and everlasting interests have never been regarded. Then when you see that Almighty Being eye to eye, whom no mortal can see and live, arrayed in glory and majesty, ten thousand times ten thousand going before him, thousands of thousands ministering unto him, the judgment set, and the books opened, the dead, small and great, of all nations, gathered in the presence of the Judge, to receive their everlasting sentence; then, when you find that that Being, your Maker, God over all, Lord and Author of all things, offered to you his friendship, and even died to secure your peace, and (awful reflection!) you first accepted and proved its fulness, then you turned faithless, betrayed your God, cast him under foot, and despised all his boundless love and offers of mercy; then, when you perceive the crafts, the artifices, the lies of Satan, that induced you to barter your soul for the treasures of earth, which are for ever dissipated; when you see that throne and kingdom and crown, which would have been yours had you continued faithful to the end, and those who had been your friends upon earth, with whom you once hoped to spend a blissful eternity, enter with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob into the kingdom of God, and you yourself shut out; dreadful will then be your misery and wretchedness. Lay these things to heart; for so surely as your eyes now peruse these lines, shall you take part in the tremendous scenes of the last day; so surely, unless you repent, shall you die the death of the sinner, perish everlastingly, and endure all the fulness of that torment, where the smoke ascendeth up for ever and ever.

It is with a feeling of sorrow that I close this paper. It is somewhat more than probable, that some of those to whom it is addressed will, after perusing it, lay it aside, and in the course of an hour or two its contents will have passed from their minds, and the time spent in its perusal will appear almost wasted. Strong delusions will still possess their understanding; and so will life's day quietly decline, and, almost unnoticed by the busy world, they will be gathered to their fathers; and then the present moment, which now appears so insignificant in value, so uselessly employed, will assume its own transcendent importance: it will then be plainly manifest that life has been offered to their acceptance, but they judged it unworthy of notice.

DION.

THE WOODS OF PERU AND THEIR TENANTS.

UNLIKE the peaceful repose which presides over animal life on the level heights, are the constant aggressions and combats which prevail in the forest regions. There the strong attack the weak, and the cunning inveigle the unwary; strength and intelligence, caution and instinct, are unceasingly in active operation. The variegated forms and colours which meet the eye, and the multifarious cries and tones which resound through the woods, form, altogether, the most singular contrasts. The gold-feathered colibri hums lightly through the air, soaring over the heavy, sombre-coloured tapir. The sprightly singing-bird pours forth his melodious chants amidst the thick foliage of the aged trees; whilst the fierce ounce, prowling for his prey, growls as he passes over their enormous, spreading roots. Slowly do the eye and the ear learn to distinguish individuals in the vast mass of apparent chaotic confusion, and to recognise quickly-fleeting forms, or distant resounding sounds.

The whole of the animal world is here developed to the view; and it would be difficult to assign the predominance to any one class. Yet, perhaps, the variegated feather tribe is relatively most extensively represented. The number of the mammalia is also important. They are seldom seen by the hunter during the day, but twilight draws them from their hidingplaces.

Troops of monkeys skip from tree to tree, looking timidly around, and uttering mournful howls. Among them are swarms of the black marimonda, (Ateles,) with slender, long arms, and red-brown or black faces; in some the faces are encircled with white hair, (Ateles marginatus, Geoff.,) which gives them a striking resemblance to an old Negro. Next is seen a group of silver-grey monkeys, (Lagothrix Humboldtii, Geoff.,) stalking over heaps of broken branches and twigs, in search of a resting-place. These monkeys, which are the largest in South America, are about three feet high, and are bold and vicious. When wounded, they take a position of defence against the hunter, struggling and uttering loud cries; upon which their companions hasten down from the trees to assist them. But soon a short stifled cry is heard; it is the cry of mortal convulsion. That sound drives them instantly back, and they disperse in wild flight. The sly sayu ventures to approach the dwellings of men, where he plunders maize-fields with incredible dexterity. The delicate, silky-haired monkey, shivering at every cool breeze or shower of rain, and starting at the slightest noise, creeps for shelter into the thicket, where he lies peeping with his penetrating eyes in the direction of the apprehended danger.

At sunset, swarms of bats flutter through field and forest in all directions, and greedily devour the insects which in the twilight awaken to full activity. Some of these bats (Phyllostoma hastatum, Geoff.) are remarkable for their expanse of wing, which measures nearly two feet. Others are distinguished for ugliness and for their offensive smell. These latter fly into the Indian huts at night, and greatly annoy the inhabitants, who cannot get rid of them by fire or smoke, or any other means, until at the midnight hour they retire of their own accord. Not less troublesome are the leafnosed bats, (Phyllostoma,) which attack both man and beast. This bat rubs up the skin of his victim, from which he sucks the blood. The domestic animals suffer greatly from the nocturnal attacks of these bats; and many are destroyed by the exhaustion consequent on the repeated blood-sucking. The blood drawn by the bat itself does not exceed a few ounces; but if, when satisfied, it drops down to the ground, or flies away, the wound continues to bleed for a long time, and in the morning the animal is often found in a very weak condition, and covered with blood. One of my mules, on which a leaf-nosed bat made a nightly attack, was only saved by having his back rubbed with an ointment made of spirits of camphor, soap, and petroleum. The blood-suckers have such an aversion to the smell of this ointment, that, on its application, they ceased to approach the mule. These bats are very mischievous in the plantations of the forests, where beasts of burden and horned cattle are exposed to their attacks. Whether they venture to assail man, has been a much-disputed question. Several travellers declare that they do not. I may, however, mention a case which occurred within my own knowledge. A bat (Ph. érythromos, Tsch.) fastened on the nose of an Indian lying intoxicated in a plantation, and sucked so much blood that it was unable to fly away. The slight wound was followed by such severe inflammation and swelling, that the features of the Cholo were not recognisable.

Many beasts of prey, and among them some of formidable strength and fierceness, make havoc among the other animals of the forests. In the more lofty Montanas, the black bear (U. frugilegus, Tsch.) roams as wild as his fellow-depredator of the Cordillera. He often enters the maize-fields of the Indians, breaks the stalks of the plants, and drags the green tops away to his hole. When this bear cannot obtain his customary vegetable food, consisting chiefly of the fruits of a pandanea, (Phytelephas,) he watches for the deer and wild boars, or attacks the oxen employed to turn the machinery in the sugar-mills: he has even been known to assail solitary travellers. The lively coatis traverse the forests in flocks. They collect round the roots of trees, and search for the larvæ of insects; light-footed, they climb up bush and tree to find birds' nests, and feast on the eggs and the young. With a monotonous howl, not unlike that made by some dogs on a clear, moonlight night, the yellow-breasted glutton, (Galictis barbara, Wieg.,) the omeyro of the Indians, announces his presence. But the most fierce of all these wild forest-animals are those of the feline class. The spotless, dark-grey yaguarundi, not much larger than the wild-cat of Europe, pursues all kinds of birds, particularly the pigeon, the partridge, and the Penelope. The oscollo, (F. celidogaster, Tem.,) the uturunca, (F. pardalis, L.,) and the long-tailed, yellowish-grey tiger-cat, (F. macrourura, Pr. M.,) all lie in wait, not only for the weaker mammalia, but sometimes they even venture into the plantations, and kill dogs and poultry. The maneless Mexican lion (the puma) roams through the upper regions of the