me, who makes ready my lodgings, and takes care that I be royally entertained." The lord asked him, who was his harbinger. He answered, "The knowledge of myself, and the consideration of what I deserve for my sins, which is, eternal torment; and when with this knowledge I arrive at my lodging, how unprovided soever I find it, methinks it is ever better than I deserve. Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his L. S. R.

sins.'

A SOFT ANSWER.

6

"A SOFT answer turneth away wrath." This was the advice given by Solomon*. We ought never to begin any strife or quarrels: and if others begin them, we must not continue them by rough answers; if we answer roughly, this continues strife, for the man who has already provoked you, will be glad to go on with his angry words, and to show that he is more powerful at railing than you are. But when you answer with softness, he is quite put out: he knows not what to say; he wishes for a quarrel; but you will not help him in this; you will not make one in the dispute. Besides, when the anger of his mind is put down, he becomes softened, and is ready to look upon you as a friend rather than an enemy. Bridle then the tongue; let no rough words come out of your mouth, no unkind words. We see, indeed, the "wise man," in the short sentences, or proverbs, of Solomon. When he had told us what sort of answer turned away wrath, he says "grievous words stir up strife," they provoke more grievous words, and a great quarrel is the consequence. The apostle Paul teaches us the same lesson of forgiveness and Christian wisdom, when he tells us to treat an enemy with kindness, and to show that we have no enmity to him. This he tells us will be like putting "coals of fire on his head," that is, will melt him to compassion, as workmen melt their metals by applying hot coals to them. Thus the warmth of Christian kindness melts the soul to love, and brings out the best graces and feelings of the heart, as pure and clean metal flows from the melted ore, and comes out from the dross and dirt with which it was mixed.

SMALL-POX.

"THE small-pox is very prevalent at Llandilo and in its neighbourhood, and is of a very malignant kind, having proved fatal in numerous instances; all of which, so far as we have been able to ascertain, have been cases where vaccination had been neglected."-Welshman.

It is grievous to see that small-pox still continues its destruction in many parts of the country; and this is generally found to be where vaccination has been neglected. Before the discovery of vaccination, the smallpox generally prevailed in our parishes about once in every three years. But so great has been the change, that, for twenty years together, many parishes have had no small-pox; and in some, it appears to have been altogether put an end to. This is proof enough of the power of vaccination. But there has been one bad effect arising from this: for people, seeming to have forgotten their dread of small-pox, have taken no trouble about the matter, and have neglected to use the means by which they might hope to be secured. Thus, in some parishes, there has been little or no vaccination for many years and then, when some person brings the small-pox into the parish, the greater number of people are ready to take it: those who have not been vaccinated are pretty sure to take it: and thus we see, that a whole parish may be brought to suffer by this dreadful disease, when it might have been kept away if all the people had been vaccinated when they were young. Some people still say that vaccination is of no use, for that people who have been vaccinated take the smallpox. This may be true: but it is very few indeed who take it, out of the whole number of those who have been vaccinated. Experience plainly proves that vaccination does keep off small-pox: though it cannot be called certain and infallible; and nothing in this world is so. But when it is plain that a great deal of misery and distress is prevented by this method, it appears to be a clear duty to use with thankfulness so great an advantage.

THE EDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE.

ON entering the British channel, the first object to attract notice, after passing the coast of Cornwall, is the Eddystone light-house. It is a tall circular tower, built on a very dangerous rock, which, for the most part, is under water, and had often proved the destruction of ships and sailors. At the summit of this tower is a room of plate glass, called the lantern, which at night is lighted up very brilliantly, to warn mariners to steer far away from their ruin. Being upwards of ten miles from land, by day vessels often pass between it and the shore, and in calm weather may approach within a short distance of the light-house itself.

Not long since, the passengers in a homeward-bound packet were in this very situation; and were amusing themselves with the sight of the waves chasing each other to the very waist of the building. Among them was one who, without any thing remarkable in his appearance, was evidently possessed of more knowledge than the rest, and whom, which was still better, God had distinguished by the gift of His heavenly grace. This made him very anxious for his own and others' salvation. He had been abroad to make known the Gospel of Christ to heathens, and was now returning after many years absence, to his native land. Some of his fellow-passengers enquired whether he could give them any account of the Eddystone light-house, when he replied as follows: "The lighthouse, which you now see, was not the first built upon this spot: had we been sailing up the channel a hundred years ago, we should have seen a building of quite a different form and materials, constructed of timber firmly caulked and jointed together. This light-house, after surviving many severe storms, was at last destroyed by fire. But even this was not the first; the first of all was erected by a Mr. Winstanley, so long ago as the year 1696. It was of stone, curiously contrived, and thought at the time very substantial; but by no one more than himself. Indeed, so confident did he feel in the strength of his work, that he was heard to say, 'he only wished he might have to try it during the greatest storm that ever

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blew under heaven.' His desire was granted. On the 26th of November, 1702, at night time, England was visited by one of the most awful and destructive storms that ever swept our coasts. As it happened, Mr. Winstanley was in his light-house. During the night, many were the conjectures of his friends as to his fate, but the morning put an end to all doubt. The storm had abated, though the sea was still rolling in troubled grandeur as far as the eye could reach, but nothing of the light-house was to be seen. It was completely swept from its foundations, and the only trace of the ill-fated architect or his work ever found, was the fragment of an old iron chain, which had been jammed into a crevice of the rock, and was taken out about fifty years after. Such was the fate of the two first light-houses.

"The third, which is the one we now see, was designed by the celebrated John Smeaton, whose name deserves to live in the grateful remembrance of his countrymen. A stone light-house was, in his opinion, the best, and though others thought differently, and affirmed that it never would withstand the action of the winds and waves, he trusted to his own judgment, and it proved correct. For its shape he took as a model the oak, which tapers towards the middle, but gradually widens at the base and top. The foundation is so firmly morticed and leaded into the rock, that it could hardly, it is thought, be torn away without breaking off, at the same time, a considerable portion of the rock itself. Within are four apartments, besides the light-room, and on the ceiling of one of them are graven these words, 'Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it.' (Ps. cxxvii.)

"Though upwards of 90 feet in height, the waves, during storms, mount high over the top, and descend in a mass on the head of the devoted pile, which is said, on these occasions, sensibly to reel under the shock."

"What terrible alarm the poor man must feel who lives within," remarked a lady standing by.

"I do not see why he should feel alarmed," said the missionary. "David says that he will not fear though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea; and every sinner who is reconciled to