ground of objection.-The causes of these are two. (1.) Natural: droughts, excessive rains, violent tempests. These come but seldom, the reverse is the general lot of men; but when they come they bring a message from God, and arouse men's minds to think of the power and justice of God. (2.) Wickedness: either idleness, or extravagance, or vice. What of poverty God allows to happen to some people, He provides for in gifts to others, and commands the liberal distribution of these gifts.

Duties in regard to Providence.(1.) To observe and ponder, to recognise it in every event. (2.) Submission. This does not imply insensibility. There may and ought to be prayer, as in the case of David and Christ. (3.) There must be hope and trust.

The grounds of confidence are God's promises and His general care. (1.) Promises. Most of the Old-Testament promises made to the Jewish nation are yet applicable to every righteous nation; therefore good men share them. God has not promised riches and honours to men, but food and clothing, and “all things" to "work together for good," &c. (2.) The care of God in the past, as confirmed by experience, should encourage absolute trust in Him, and lead us with Job to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." We take a narrow view of things, God takes a broad, far-stretching view of them; embracing, in fact, both time and eternity.

Permissions of Providence.-The reason why God allowed, and still permits, sin and suffering, appears to be that He may overrule them for His glory and our good. God sent His people into Egypt to make Himself known as their God in delivering them. Abraham was sent from Ur of the Chaldees, and Joseph

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was sent into Egypt for this: (1.) The people were settled in one part of Goshen, to keep them distinct from the heathen. (2.) Their bondage kept up that distinction. (3.) It should have made them willing to leave, and undertake the conquest of Canaan. (4.) Their service made Pharaoh unwilling to part with them, and thus gave occasion for the display of Divine power. (5.) Bondage should have embittered idolatry. (6.) God in providence intends to teach wise, useful, and necessary lessons, if we will only lay things to heart, and learn while we may. Let us remember, however, that God is always wise and loving, just and righteous, in all His dispensations, whether we read them rightly or not.

THE FIRST LAST, AND THE

LAST FIRST.

SINCE the stars of heaven do differ in glory; since it hath pleased the Almighty hand to honour the north pole with lights above the south; since there are some stars so bright that they can hardly be looked on; some so dim that they can scarce be seen, and vast numbers not to be seen at all, even by artificial eyes; read thou the earth in heaven, and things below from above. Look contentedly upon the scattered differences of things, and expect not equality in lustre, dignity, or perfection, in regions or persons below; where numerous numbers must be content to stand like nebulous stars, little taken notice of, or dim in their generations. All which may be allowable in the affairs of this world; and in suspension unto what will be the order of things hereafter, and the new system of mankind which will be in the world to come; when the last may be first, and the first the last; when Lazarus may sit above Cæsar, and the just, obscure on earth, shall shine like the sun in

heaven; when personations shall cease, and histrionism of happiness be over; when reality shall rule, and all shall be as they shall be for ever.-Sir Thomas Browne.

A SABBATH IN NORWAY.
BY THE REV. D. J. WALLER.

VÖSSEVANGEN is about seventy miles from Bergen, situated between the upper arms of the Hardanger and Sogne Fjords. It is a village at the head of a pine-fringed lake, with mountains, two thousand feet high, rising up on every side; and very beautiful it looked in the deep stillness and clear shining of the Sabbath morning. Here we spent our first Sunday in Norway.

There is a "Hovedkirke," to which the people come from great distances to worship. All were attired in holiday - dress, and in this part of the country there is a decided character about the costume, gay colours and filigree-ornaments abounding. The young women wore no bonnets, but had their hair tastefully plaited. The married women wore a white napkin stretched over the top of the head, in the form of a large flat arch. The bodice of their dresses was of scarlet cloth, with a bright green border, and a breastplate of elaborately-worked embroidery. Their style of dress was quite in harmony with the grand scenery by which they were surrounded..

The congregation began to assemble very early. Some were slowly descending the mountainsides. Several boats crossed the lake. "Stolkjerres," all well filled, passed in quick succession along the road. But, whether the people came by land or vand, ("water,") none came for pleasure or for worldly profit; they all made to one common centre,-a white-washed church, which nestled in the pine-grove at the head of the village.

There was an early sacramental service, the number of communicants rendering it necessary that some should participate before the public service, and some afterwards.

Two or three hundred persons were quietly waiting in the graveyard till the public service should begin. Their serious behaviour showed that the place was sacred to the memory of loved ones who were gone; and not a few were consciously treading near "the ashes of their fathers."

The doors being opened, we were at liberty to go where we pleased, for all the seats are free. The church will seat from four to five hundred; but there were from six to seven hundred present. Still there was no crowding or unseemly disorder, and it was surprising how few remained standing. Children sat upon their parents' knees; and, what was a still more beautiful sight to behold, the parents sat on the knees of their children. The likeness between the aged parents and their children was, in many cases, unmistakable. In winter there can be little churchgoing; so these good people make the most of their opportunities.

The service began by the clerk coming forward to the chancel-steps and repeating the Lord's prayer. Then the whole congregation joined in singing a psalm. There was a touching plaintiveness in their voices, as if their sweetest songs" would "tell of saddest thoughts." There was no announcing of pages or giving out of hymns; the numbers of the hymns for the service being chalked on black-boards, and so placed that all could see them. The Minister, who had ascended the pulpit in close black gown and starched ruff,-familiar in the portraits of foreign Reformers,-reminded one forcibly of the old pictures of Luther and Melancthon. He offered several prayers, which were followed by

another psalm. The Scriptures were then read, when, for the first time during the service, the congregation stood up, and remained standing while God's Word was being read. The sermon was rather long, but earnestly delivered. In such а crowded place, where the heat was almost tropical in its silent intensity, it was to be expected that many would be overcome with sleep. When tempted to do so, they effectually aroused themselves by standing up. The sermon was followed by a short prayer; after which the whole congregation stood to receive the benediction, and bowed in recognition of the blessed Trinity, as each name was pronounced.

The public service was now concluded; but a large number remained to partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and a still larger number remained as spectators. The Minister retired into the vestry, and returned, no longer wearing the black gown, but vested in a rich cope of crimson satin, embroidered with a broad cross of silver tissue before and behind. This looked sufficiently alarming in these ritualistic days, but the simplicity of the service removed the faintest suspicion. Kneeling before the altar, the Minister prayed for a short time in silence. Then standing, he chanted some versicles in a low voice, the congregation responding. After the consecration - prayer, he took the patina and chalice in his hands. The communicants then approached, and knelt; the women on one side, and the men on the other, when he put the bread into the mouth, and held the cup to the lips of each one; saying, as he did so, Dette er Jesu sande Legem, Dette er Jesu sande Blöd,-"This is the true body and the true blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This sacrament was followed by that of baptism. There was a large

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number of infants, and the service was very prolonged, by the form of questions being asked the parents of each child. Great numbers still lingered within and around the church, as they would not have done if their hearts had not been inspired with reverence and affection for the place. The services for the day being over, the people began to take the ways to their several homes. The boats were recrossing the lake; the cream-coloured ponies, with their manes cut after the fashion of the old Greek frieze, were taken out of the log-huts built for their accommodation; which, like most of the houses in Norway, were, at this season, covered over with wild pansies. Every one looked calm, serious, and happy, having the expression of those who had fulfilled a duty which was to them a delight.

Throughout the country, schools and churches are provided at such distances, that all who will may attend. In villages which rest in the deep shadow of the tremendous cliffs on the shores of the fjords, containing the homes of the Norsk fishermen, there are churches with their Ministers educated at the University. The people generally show an appreciation of this provision for their spiritual wants, as creditable to them, as it is to the Government which has made it. Religion cannot be resolved into church-going; still the Norwegians have the "form of godliness;" and there were many things which showed they were not strangers to the power of it.

The land of the foss, the fjord, and the fjeld, is fruitful in pleasant memories; memories all "scented with ocean brine, and dyed with deep outlandish hues." The grandeur of the upper arms of the Hardanger Fjord, once seen, can never be forgotten; the thunder of the Vöring Foss, once heard, sounds on for

So, as we lift our eyes,

The vast fields of immortal souls we see White unto harvest rise:

And truly spreads the harvest plenteously:

But listen! to the skies

A cry ascends, "O few the labourers be!

"Lord of the harvest hear Thy servants' prayer, that Thou wouldst quickly send

Forth those, both far and near, To aid us in the glorious toil, and lend, To save the souls so dear, Labour, till it in endless rest shall end.

"Thou wilt Thy promise keep; And we who long have seen the gushing tear

Of them that sow and weep, Soon, soon, with glad, exultant hearts, shall hear

The song of them that reap, Who now with up-piled sheaves, and joy appear."

S. J. H.

SORRENTO, ITALY.

(Showing the house in which the poet
Torquato Tasso was born.)

Peace to Torquato's injured shade! 'Twas his,
In life and death, to be the mark where wrong
Aim'd with her poison'd arrows; but to miss :
O! victor unsurpass'd in modern song.

THE romantic, castellated city of Sorrento is seated on the very brink of a precipice of volcanic rock which overhangs the deep, protected from the cold land-winds that, passing over it, ruffle the bosom of the bay, by the mountains of Masso and Vico, and enjoying the refreshing breezes that are wafted from the waters towards these sunny hills. The streets are narrow; a circumstance unattended with much inconvenience in a place where carriages are not in ùse, and where there is no practicable communication with the metropolis by land. All the avenues and environs are sheltered and shaded; water is clear and abundant; and it is from Sorrento that Naples is supplied with milk and butter, meat and fruit; while a large portion of the female population is employed in rearing silkworms and weaving silk,

Long celebrated for the fascinating character of its scenery, and the salubrity of a climate which Galen recommended to his patients, Sorrento claims the honour of being the birthplace of many illustrious scholars; but the greatest of them all, Torquato Tasso, has conferred a lasting fame upon this delightful spot. The house where the poet dwelt stands on a lofty rock rising from the sea, cut into terraces, and clothed with verdure. Now a beautiful palace, it continues to be the property of his family, belonging to the descendants of his elder sister Cornelia. It was to this sister that the poet returned, seeking shelter after lengthened absence and painful sufferings, and it was here that he received from her the most tender welcome. It was in latter life that he visited these scenes, under circumstances of singular and romantic interest. Influenced by VOL. XV.-Second Series.

one of those afflictive delusions to which misery and unbridled passion had given rise, Tasso fled from Ferrara, resolving to seek safety beneath the roof of his sister, who, having lost her husband, resided in the paternal mansion at Sorrento. Disguising himself like Ulysses of old, in the dress of a shepherd, he succeeded, after many difficulties, in reaching his native place, where he introduced himself as a messenger from her brother to Cornelia, demanding assistance and protection for that beloved relative, who was in imminent risk of his life; and so affecting was the picture which the poet drew of his own dangers, that she fainted at the recital. Overcome by this touching proof of her love, Tasso disclosed himself, and was joyfully received. He remained at Sorrento for some months, under an assumed character, and passed much of his time in