Oh, grant unto the world
The tranquil joys of peace;
Soon may the flag be furled,
And warlike conflict cease.
Awake, oh, God! the nations save,
And break the bonds of ev'ry slave.

A NOBLE ACT NOBLY REWARDED. THE burghers of Soleuse had, during the warm contests for the imperial throne, espoused the cause of Louis of Bavaria, and thereby incurred the indignation of the House of Austria. Duke Leopold advanced with a powerful army, besieged their town, and threatened its extirpation. A violent fall of rain brought on a sudden inundation, which, besides destroying all the stores, engines, and implements of the besiegers, endangered a wooden bridge they had constructed for the sake of communication between different parts of the camp. The Duke had posted a great number of men upon it, who, in order to steady it against the impetuosity of the torrent, had loaded it with great heaps of stones. This precaution, however, proved ineffectual; the bridge gave way, and the men were perishing in the stream. The burghers, at this disastrous moment, forgot their enmity, took to their boats, and, at the imminent danger of their own lives, hastened to the relief of their perishing antagonists. They saved the greatest number of them, fed them, cheered them, and sent them back to the camp. The Duke hereupon, attended by thirty knights, came to the walls, and desired to be admitted on friendly terms. On being honourably received, he granted a banner to the burghers as a token of perfect reconciliation, and declared that

their generosity had completely vanquished his resentment. None of his wars ever terminated so much to his advantage.

OF WHAT USE ARE INSECTS? WHO thinks of their use? And yet, if we only think of their use in trade and commerce, we shall see how great is their value. England pays every year £200,000 for the dried bodies of that tiny insect known as the cochineal; while another, also, which comes from India, and which produces gum-shellac, is scarcely less valuable. More than 1,500,000 human beings derive their sole support from the culture and manufacture of the threads spun by the silkworm, of which the annual worth is said to be £40,000,000. In England alone, to say nothing of the other parts of Europe, £100,000 are spent every year in the purchase of foreign honey, while the value of that which is native is not known; and all this is the work of the bee. Besides this, there are 10,000 pounds of

wax brought into this country every year. Then, too, there are the gall nuts, used for dyeing and making ink; the cantharides, or Spanish fly, used in medicine. In fact, every insect is contributing in some way, directly or indirectly, in swelling the amount of our commercial profits. Even those which, in some cases, prove a plague, and become destructive, have their place in the order of Providence, and show how that little things, having life, become the servants of man.

LESSON OF THE MINER.

A PRIZE is offered for the best article on the Miner, as referred to in Scripture. Articles must be sent by the 19th.

ANSWERS TO THE LESSON OF

THE

OWL.

I.

LEVITICUS XI. 17.

WHEN Israel's host, a pilgrim band,
Was through the desert led;
Released from Pharaoh's iron hand,
And fed with heav'nly bread,-
By many ways Jehovah showed
That they must sep'rate be,
A holy nation to their God,

Whom His own hand set free.

Their customs and their dress must be
Diverse from Canaan's tribes;
And food unclean, and what is clean,
The holy law prescribes.

The little owl must they exclude
From Israelitish meals;

Nor must the great owl be their food;
This God Himself reveals.

Lord! make us wise in heart to hear
The words of Moses' law;

To seek Thy face with filial fear
And reverential awe.

And may we sweetly feed, by faith,

On Christ the Lamb of God,

Who saved His guilty Church from death

By offring up His blood.

II.

RHODA ALEXANDER.

ISAIAH XXXIV.

See Edom's once delightful land
A mournful desolation stand;
The voice of joy is hushed in thee,
And all sweet sounds of melody.

There the great owl, with solemn state,
Sits high aloft, each with her mate;
There she securely makes her nest,
And lays, and hatches,-none molest.
The timid, fearful bird of prey,
Scarce ever to be seen by day,
Oh, Edom, seeks thy lonely halls,
And dwells amid thy ruined walls.
Oh, people of the curse of God,
Jehovah's word is filled with blood;
His direst judgments fall on thee,
A desolation thou shalt be!

III.

RHODA ALEXANDER.

I find that the "owl" is mentioned in the following places: Leviticus xi. 16, 17; Deuteronomy xiv. 15, 16; Job xxx. 29; Psalm cii. 6; Isaiah xxxiv. 11, 13, 14, 15; Micah i. 8.

PSALM CII. 6.

Hear Thou my prayer, O Lord, and let
My cry come unto Thee;

In time of trouble do not hide

Thy face away from me.

Incline Thine ear to me, make haste

To hear me when I call;

For as the smoke doth fade away,
My days consume and fall;

And as a hearth my bones are burnt,
My heart is smitten dead,
And withers like the grass, that I
Forget to eat my bread.

By reason of my groaning voice,

My bones cleave to my skin;

As pelican in wilderness,

Such case now am I in: