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of millions, and which will prove the joy and eternal happiness of thousands yet unborn.

The Chapel of the Nativity is of an oblong form, and of small dimensions, not capable of containing more than 40 persons. The floor and sides are completely lined with white marble, and the rough hewn roof is hid with a covering of scarlet silk. At the upper end is a small niche, the lower part of which is pointed out as the spot of the Saviour's birth; this is covered with a rich golden embossed plate, studded with jewels, having a circular space left in the centre, very much resembling that which covers the hole pointed out in the Church of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem, as being that in which the cross of Christ stood. The border of this plate bears this inscription: Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est, and over it there are twelve silver lamps kept continually burning; but the light which they emit is so small, that notwithstanding their number, the narrow chapel appears very dull and sombre. Four of these lamps are claimed by the Greeks, four by the Latins, and four by the Armenians, and not unfrequently serious quarrels take place among the monks of these different churches on account of some alleged trespass or interfe rence with each other's lamps and candles. Opposite to the niche already described, but a little to the right, is another, enclosing the supposed site of the manger in which the Saviour was laid immediately after his birth, and that where the Magi are said to have worshipped the infant Jesus. Two small paintings in oil representing these events are hung up in the niche, and secured behind a neat lattice of silver wire. From this chapel a few stairs lead up into the church of St. Helena which has already been described.

Among the other sacred monuments shewn to the traveller at Bethlehem, is the well from which the three valiant Israelites brought water to David, when it was strongly garrisoned by a camp of the Philistines; and at a little distance from the village the cave is pointed out in which the Shepherds,

to whom the angels appeared, used to retire for rest and shelter. Of course the intelligent will know how far to give credence to many of these tales, which are only handed down by recent tradition.

The chief occupation of the Bethlehemite native christians is the carving of beads for rosaries, crucifixes, and snuff-boxes in mother-of-pearl and fish-bone, and small bowls in a hard bituminuous clay which is brought from the shores of the Dead Sea, and called Hagiar Moosa. The curiosity of travellers, and the piety of the numerous pilgrims who visit this part of Palestine, keep up the trade in these commodities to a very great extent.

The villagers of Bethlehem are remarkable for their good shape and comely appearance. The females especially are generally very good looking, surpassing in beauty those in any other part of the Holy Land.

The Star of Bethlehem.

1 WHEN marshall'd on the mighty plain,
The glittering host bestud the sky;
One star alone, of all the train,
Can fix the sinner's wandering eye.

2 Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks,
From every host, from every gem;
But one alone the Saviour speaks,
It is the star of Bethlehem.

3 Once on the raging seas I rode,
The storm was loud,-the night was dark,
The ocean yawn'd—and rudely blow'd
The wind that toss'd my foundering bark.
4 Deep horror then my vitals froze;
Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem;
When suddenly a star arose,

It was the star of Bethlehem.

5 It was my guide, my light, my all,
It bade my dark foreboding cease;
And through the storm and danger's thrall,
It led me to the port of peace.

6 Now safely moor'd-my perils o'er,
I'll sing, first in night's diadem,
For ever and for ever more,
The star!-the Star of Bethlehem!

SCIENCE deprives itself of its right hand, when under the influence of a false philosophy, it refuses to turn to the Creator and to inquire of His purposes.-MACCULLOCH.

Self-Advancement.

a

Mr. Ewing, senator from Ohio, in the United States, is perhaps one of the most conspicuous men of that state. Although he has been in Congress but a single session, he has acquired a high reputation as a statesman. He is a self-made man,striking exemplification of what a man can do by merely personal effort. He is a native of this state, and was born poor. In his youth his principal employment was wood-chopping. Being very atheltic, he excelled in the labours of the axe. At length, when he had grown up to early manhood, a desire for education was awakened in his mind. He directed his steps to an institution, (what institution is not specified,) where he completed his education preparatory to the study of the law. In term time he chopped wood at the college-door; and in vacation it was his custom to swing his axe upon his shoulder and go forth in search of a job, which he would accomplish, and return with fresh vigour at the commencement of next term. In this way he sustained himself while in college, and came out with a constitution as vigorous as when he entered. And now he is a senator of the United States."-American annals of Education,

Perseverance.- -There was no feature more remarkable in the character of Timour* than his extraordinary perseverance. No difficulties ever led him to recede from what he had once undertaken; and he often persisted in his efforts under circumstances which led all around him to despair. On such occasions he used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once," he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my helpless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant, that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell six*The great Asiatic conqueror, commonly called by the name of Tamerlane.

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My readers may all recollect the melancholy incident of the burning of the Kent East India ship in the chops of the British Channel some few years ago. On board of that ship was Lieutenant-Colonel Mac Gregor, now of the 93rd Highlanders, who was going out with the regiment he then commanded to India. When all hope of saving the ship was at an end, and death seemed inevitable, the Colonel sat down, and wrote a short narrative of what had occurred, and the probability that existed of any person being saved. This paper was put into a bottle, and while he was in the act of corking that bottle, so as to secure the writing, the cry of "a ship in sight," was heard. What became of the bottle after that moment he had no recollection; but about three or four years ago he went out to Barbados to take the command of his present corps, and shortly after his arrival at Ann's, he was waited on by a gentleman connected with one of the newspapers published in Bridgetown, and who, after some little explanation, presented to the Colonel his original manuscript from on board the Kent, which had been found in a bottle picked up by a negro on the northern shore of the island. It must have been the existing current that brought this bottle from the British Channel to the shores of Barbados.- -SIR ANDREW HALLIDAY'S West Indies.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.-Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die, and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell.

An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.Solomon.

Quarterly Subscriptions at ls. and communications received at No. 97 Str. Forni.

No. 16

THE YEAR.

Saturday, Dec. 28. 1839.

The year may be termed the largest natural division of time. As the diurnal revolution of the earth would naturally lead to the division into days, and the phases of the moon, with a little attention, to that into months, so the annual motion of the earth round the sun, which would be marked by the periodical return of certain appearances, seasons, &c. would in due course lead to the adoption of this larger division. At what time this took place is uncertain, but probably not before considerable advances had been made in astronomical science. It was long, however, after its first adoption, before it attained to any thing like an accurate form. The most ancient measure of the year of which we know consisted of twelve lunar months, which, for the facility of computation, being all considered as equal in length, and to contain thirty days each, amounted to 360 days. It is conjectured that this gave rise to the division of the ecliptic, which still obtains, into 360 equal parts or degrees.

cian year, and it was adopted, with some trifling variations in particular instances, into the Indian, the Chinese, and the Jewish year.

The Roman year, as regulated by Romulus, and afterwards reformed by his successor Numa, was reckoned by lunar months, and adjusted to the seasons by a number of intercalary days. It consisted of ten lunar months, of which December was the last, and to these two whole intercalary months were added, but not inserted in the calendar. This year began at first in March; but the Decemviri, who undertook its reformation, changed the order of the months into that in which they now stand, introduced the two intercalary months, January and February, into the calendar, and made January the first month of the year.

Owing to the ignorance, or the carelessness, of the Pontifices Maximi, to whose care the regulation of the intercalary days was committed, the year was reduced to such disorder in the time of Julius Cæsar, that the winter months had fallen back to the autumn. To restore them to their proper season, Cæsar formed a year of 445 days, which has been styled the year of confusion. With the assistance of Sosigenes, a mathematician of Alexandria, he afterwards, in the year B. C. 45, instituted a solar year of 365 days 6 hours, which is now known under the name of the Julian year. To adjust this year to the annual revolution of the earth, which is six hours and some minutes more than 365 days, the length of the ordinary year, a day was appointed to be intercalated every fourth year in the month of February: this day, from its position in the Roman calendar, was called bissextile, a name which has also been given to the year in which the intercalation takes place.

The luni-solar year probably had its rise in Chaldæa, or Egypt; we learn, at least, from the testimony of Herodotus, that it was used in the latter country. Hence, with the diffusion of science, it was carried into other regions, and very generally adopted. It was early in use among the Indians, Chinese, the Medes, and Persians, and the ancient Greeks. Its measure being, however, inaccurate, containing five days and a quarter more than the lunar, and as much less than the true solar year, and this defect becoming every year more perceptible from the retrocession of the seasous, &c. it was soon considered necessary to subject it to some revision. The Thebans are supposed to have been the first who undertook its correction, by making an annual addition The Julian year, although it approaches of five days to the luni solar year. Thales very near the truth, is not, however, perfectintroduced this improvement into the Gre-ly correct. The time of the annual revolu

tion of the sun in the ecliptic is 365 days, 5 hours, and nearly 49 minutes, which falls short by a few minutes of the time assumed in the Julian year. How trifling soever this difference might at first appear, it amounted in a hundred and thirty-one years to a whole day: in consequence of this, the vernal equinox, which Sosigenes, in the first year of the Julian correction, observed to fall on the 25th of March, had gone back in A. D. 325, at the time of the council of Nice, to the 21st, and in A. D. 1582 to the 11th of March. To remedy this growing defect, Pope Gregory XIII. caused the calendar to undergo another correction. In A. D. 1580, he ordered ten days to be cut out of the month of October, so that the fourth was reckoned the 15th. day; and to prevent such retrocession in future, in addition to the Julian regulation with respect to the bissextile year, he ordained that the years 1609, 2000, 2400. and every fourth century in succession, should have an intercalation of a day, but that in the other centuries 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, &c, the day should be omitted and those years remain common years. This regulation comes so near the truth that the only correction it will require will be the suppression of a day and a half in five thousand years.

The Gregorian year, or, as it is vulgarly called, the new style, was immediately adopted in Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy. It was introduced into France in October of the same year, the tenth of which month was, by an ordinance of Henry III. reckoned the twentieth day. In Germany it was adopted by the Catholic states in 1583, but the Protestant states adhered to the old calendar until the year 1700. Denmark also adopted it about this period, and Sweden in 1783. It was not used in England before 1742, when, by act of parliament, the style was changed, and the third of September was reckoned the fourteenth, the difference having by this time increased to eleven days. Russia is the only christian country in Europe in which the old mode of reckoning is still in use.

The want of some specific standard, which

could be regarded as common to all nations, has occasioned great diversity in different countries in fixing the beginning of the year. The Chaldæans and Egyptians reckoned their year from the autumnal equinox. The Jews also reckoned their civil year from this period, but began their ecclesiastical year in the spring. Gemschid, the King of Persia, ordered the year in that country to commence at the vernal equinox. In Swe. den the year formerly commenced at the winter solstice. The Greeks used different methods, some of the states beginning the year at the vernal, others at the autumnal equinox, and some at the summer solstice. The Roman year on one time began in March, but afterwards was made to commence in January.

Having thus given a short account of the lunar and solar years, which have been mostly in use, it would be proper just to notice some combinations of years, which are mentioned in ancient history; but this we must transfer to another number of the Magazine.

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It is one point of happiness, and perhaps the highest we can attain to, to know and be fully convinced that at the best we are but poorly qualified for it; and therefore must not expect it in this life. The generality of mankind create to themselves a thousand heedless anxieties, by a vain search after a thing that never was, nor ever will be found upon earth: Let us then sit down contented with our lot; and in the mean time be as happy as we can in a diligent preparation for what is to come.

THE FACULTIES OF MAN. MAN is born with wonderful faculties into a wonderful world; and, as he journeys through this world, it is amazing what a mass of information he heaps together; how his active, able mind can gather in stores of knowledge from every side at every step.

He travels over his own globe, and marks the scenes and products of a hundred lands; the customs, deeds and tongues of a hundred nations. He explores the heights above and the depths below. Nothing is too small for his notice, nothing too great for his measurement. From the loftiest mountain that shoots into heaven, to the minutest flower that springs at his feet; from the huge animal that stalks through the forest, to the insect which finds its world on a leaf; -the fowl of the air, the fish of the water, each stone that exists, each plant that grows, each creature that moves-this immense and varied host does Man note, and examine, and name, and arrange in due class and order. Nay, spurning the limits of his own earth, winged by his instruments, he bounds over the vast space around, traverses the heaven in every direction, and makes acquaintance with worlds at distances too prodigious even for conception.

All this array of knowledge can man discover and grasp by his own faculties, his own independent exertions; by the activity of his own body, the sagacity of his own mind. And strongly does this display his astonishing powers. Look at the Infant : -what being so ignorant and helpless as that little creature! Look at the man towering aloft in the might of his intellect;and what expansive faculties must they be, which have raised those heights of knowledge in the Man! The fact is, where man can bring his powers to bear, there he does wonders. Where eye can see and finger can touch, there man can search, and detect, and comprehend, to a marvellous extent. So it is that the material worldthis visible creation of earth below and heaven above is more or less within man's knowledge.

But then, there is another world, and

that world man's senses cannot reach, and there man's knowledge fails. It is a spiritual world, a world of things, which "eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard," and therefore "neither have they entered into the heart of man to conceive." There the mightiest in natural talents, the giant in earthly science, is again the ignorant, helpless babe. He may inquire, and imagine, and argue, and conjecture, but he works in the dark. He can never get one firm footing within the world invisible whereon to stay his anxious soul. That world lies on the map of his knowledge one huge void, which reason may plan twith her possibilities, and fancy fill up with her figments; but of which he knows nothing, and can know nothing, in clear and certain truth. Earth and Time are within his observation; Heaven and Eternity are beyond his cogniz

ance.

Here, then, is our position. We are hastening through the world, we see into a world invisible and unknown. To it death will speedily introduce us. Meanwhile every thoughtful mind must be intensely anxious to learn something of this awful world soon to be our own world; so much at least as will enable us to do all we can to prepare for

it. Whence can we gain this information? -Not from the vain inventions of the poet, nor yet from the speculations of the philosopher, dim and doubtful at the best. We must look to the mercy of God, beneath whose eye this world of darkness to us lies clear as the noon-day. All sure knowledge of that world must be a revelation from Him.-GIBSON.

Reflection at the End of a Year. 1 And now, my soul, another year Of thy short life is past;

I cannot long continue here,
And this may be my last.

2 Much of my dubious life is gone,
Nor will return again;

And swift my passing moments run,
The few that yet remain.

3 Now a new scene of time begins,
Set out afresh for heaven;
Seek pardon for thy former sins,
In Christ so freely given.

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