THE date tree, though not known in our own land, is very common in the East. Its clusters of fruit, which are often very large, supply many of the inhabitants of Arabia, Persia, and Egypt with their daily food. The reader has probably heard of the pity which the natives of those parts are stated to have felt for the inhabitants of European countries, where, with all their comforts and possessions, there was not a date to be seen. This tree is said to arrive at TRACT MAG. FOURTH SERIES, NO. 1, JAN., 1846. A

perfection in thirty years after its planting; it continues in full strength for seventy years longer, producing yearly fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds. It is also valuable as giving tokens of a supply of water existing beneath the soil, however dry the surrounding neighbourhood may appear. Sir Philip Smith, when in Egypt, told the British officers they might always find water by digging to the roots of palmtrees. They greatly add to the beauty of the landscapes in those regions. The large tuft of leaves on the summit never loses its verdure; the leaves rise erect in the centre, and widely expand on each side, measuring from six to eight feet in length. The bark is so formed as to furnish an easy ascent to man, as it were by steps, which are, at the same time, inaccessible to beasts.

It is easy to imagine what a fine effect these trees must have produced, whether alone or in groups, in the fertile plains of Judea. They are repeatedly mentioned in Scripture, especially in connexion with the city of Jericho, a pleasant and well watered spot. See Deut. xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16; iii. 13; 2 Chron. xxviii. 15; Judges iv. 5; Lev. xxiii. 40; Neh. viii. 15. The palm branch was the symbol of victory, and, in this sense, it is referred to Rev. vii. 9, and was frequently borne before eastern monarchs. With this view also it was carried by those who attended the blessed Saviour in his last and solemn entry into Jerusalem, the only occasion on which he accepted the honours of the multitude, John xii. 13.

Figures of palm-trees formed part of the sculpture of Solomon's temple, 1 Kings vi. 29. Palm-trees are also mentioned in Exod. xv. 27, as being found at Elim, and modern travellers have observed them to be very numerous there. They furnish a pleasant refreshment to the weary traveller, and may be considered as emblems of the goodness of God, who leads his people through this wilderness world in safety,

"And makes our sabbaths Elims too."

Let the enjoyment of earthly sabbaths lead us to hasten forward to the better fruits of the Canaan above, instead of being disposed to murmur at the trials of the way, as the Jews of old appear to have been; thus rendering the gifts of Divine mercy an occasion of sin.

THE SPIRITUAL CHEMIST.

THE SPIRITUAL CHEMIST.

MEDITATION 1.-UPON THE PUTTING OUT OF A CANDLE.

unto us.

3

LIGHT and darkness are in Seripture the two most usual expressions by which happiness and misery are set forth Hell and heaven, which will one day divide the whole world between them, and become the sole mansions of endless woe and blessedness, are described, the one to be a place of outer darkness, and the other an inheritance in light. But it is observable also, that as the happiness of worldly men and believers is wholly differing, so the light to which the one and the other is resembled, is greatly discrepant. The happiness of the wicked worldling is compared unto a candle, which is a feeble and dim light, and consumes itself by burning, or is put out by every small puff of wind; but the prosperity and happiness of the righteous is not as a candle in a house; but as the sun in the heaven, which though it may be clouded or eclipsed, yet can never be extinguished, or interrupted in its course, but that it will shine more and more unto the perfect day, till it come to the fulness of bliss and glory in heaven. May we not then rather bemoan, than envy, the best conditioned of worldly men, who comes out of a dark womb, into a dark world, and hath no healing beams of the Sun of righteousness arising upon him to enlighten his paths or to direct his steps. What if he have some few strictures of light, which the creatures, that are no better than a rush candle, do seem to refresh him with, and in the confidence of which he walks for a time; yet, alas! how suddenly do the damps of affliction make such a light to burn blue and to expire, and to leave him as lost in the pitchy shades of anguish and despair! How do the terrors of darkness multiply upon him every moment all those evils that a restless fancy can suggest! He sees nothing, and yet he speaks of ghastly shapes that stand before him: he cannot tell who hurts him, and yet he complains of the stinging of serpents, of the torments of fiery flames, of the wracking of his limbs. If he have cordials put into his mouth he spits them out again, as if they were the gall of asps; or if he have food administered unto him he wholly rejects it, as that which will help to lengthen out a miserable and yet to die he greatly fears, lest worse things befal him. If death approach, he then cries out, as Crisorius

life;

in Gregory, "A truce, a respite, Lord, until the morning." So great are his straits, as that he knows not what to choose, or what to fly. Oh that I could then affect some fond worldlings with the vanity and fickleness of their condition, who have nothing to secure them from an endless night of darkness, but the wan and pale light of a few earthly comforts, which are oftimes far shorter than their lives, but never can be one moment longer. Have you no wisdom to consider that your life is but a span, and that all your delights are not so much? Have you never read of a state of blessedness, in which it is said, that there shall be no night, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever? or are you so regardless of the future, as that you will resolvedly hazard whatever can fall out, for the present satisfaction of some inordinate desires? Do you not fear the threatening of Him who hath said, "The candle of the wicked shall be put out?" Oh, then, while it is called to day, make David's prayer from heart; say, your Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou shalt put gladness in my heart, more than in the time my corn and my wine increased."

THE REVEILLE.*

66

Spurstowe.

BY AN OFFICER OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY.

THE moon suddenly ceased to shine the stars vanished, as courtiers making way for their lord—the morning gun echoed from hill to hill; the clang of trumpets rent the air; and ere the last note of the réveillé had died away, the dark shade of night had disappeared, as a curtain from a stage-so sudden is the return of a tropical day. The troops in camp were now seen on the sea-beach, formed in hollow square, surrounded by a dense crowd of the black population of the island. In the centre stood a sixpounder, into which a gunner was ramming home a charge; in front was laid a coarse deal coffin; near at hand, by the side of a new-made grave, were ranged some pioneers, waiting, with their implements in hand, until the cannon should sound a wretched culprit's knell, to finish the work they had begun.

The sun now rose from the deep, shrouded in dark black * The military signal at break of day.