pounded by love. Tyranny is better than anarchy. We are not however left to the necessity of choosing between the two. Somewhere between the rigid severity of which we have spoken, and unbridled indulgence, is the medium by which authority can be preserved without destroying affection, and affection cherished without weakening authority. To find this should be the aim of every one on whom is devolved the government of the family.

But this leads us to mention as a second requisite to the highest condition of the family, mutual affection. Love is the golden chain that should encircle the family, binding all its members into one whole. There are few sights on earth more pleasant than a family thus pervaded throughout all its members by the spirit of genuine love. There are few sights more painful than a family from which love has departed. The Bible is most emphatic on this point. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. The love of Christ to the church is here proposed as an example of that love which the husband should bear to the wife, an affection the most sincere, ardent, pure, selfsacrificing of which we can form any conception. There is no love that can surpass that which inspiration has here chosen as a pattern. The intelligent universe of God never witnessed an affection superior to this. It is a deeply interesting fact that God has presented it to us as a pattern in this connection. Equally explicit and solemn are the injunctions to wives. It is commanded that they be taught to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.

It is sad to think how many domestic circles there are in which not one tone or word of affection is heard for months. Almost all the intercourse between the different members is fretful and irritating. There may not be in all such cases an absence of all genuine love. But if it exist it is so latent as scarcely to be perceived. It does not beam from the countenance, nor is it uttered by the lips. It would perhaps burst forth in extravagant grief, should any one of the members be suddenly called away by death-but it never sheds its bright sunlight on the family group in the days of wealth and prosperity. A habit of coldness and irritability has been permitted to become so fixed that it is seldom interrupted by any of the ordinary occurrences of life. Now it matters not what degree of worldly prosperity may be poured into that domestic circle, it must be the abode of wretchedness. Wealth may be there, and all the elegancies and indulgences which wealth can purchase, but happiness is not there, and never can be there till love enters. Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than a house full of good things with strife. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred there

with. Let this love be wanting, and nothing can supply its place. When affection goes out happiness goes with it, and if either returns it must be as the companion of the other. It is singular as well as sad to see the different members of a domestic circle laboring hard to surround themselves with the convenience and comforts of life, and then by their daily deportment towards each other, destroying all the hard earned fruits of their toil. But the number is not small who are doing this continually. A bitter ingredient is mingled with their daily food, and the light of the sun as it enters their mansion is discolored, and the pure atmosphere of heaven that circulates in their dwelling is contaminated—and all because they will not be affectionate toward each other. They have suffered an irritability at first occasional, to become habitual, and with spirits constantly chafed they are dragging out a miserable existence.

ONE DROP OF BLOOD.

"HAVING intimated to Vara (a native of one of the South Sea Islands,) that I thought his sickness would terminate in death, I wished him to tell me what he thought of himself in the sight of God, and what was the foundation of his hope.

Oh!' he replied, 'I have been in great trouble this morning, but I am happy now. I saw an immense mountain with precipitous sides, up which I endeavored to climb, but when I had attained a considerable height, I lost my hold and fell to the bottom. hold and fell to the bottom. Exhausted with perplexity and fatigue, I went to a distance and sat down to weep, and while weeping, I saw a drop of blood fall upon that mountain, and in a moment it was dissolved.'

I said, 'This was certainly a strange sight, what construction do you put upon it?

After expressing his surprise that I should be at a loss for the interpretation, he exclaimed,

'That mountain was my sins, and the drop which fell upon it, was one drop of the precious blood of Jesus, by which the mountain of my guilt must be melted away.'

I expressed my satisfaction at finding he had such an idea of the magnitude of his guilt, and such exalted views of the efficacy of the Saviour's blood, and that, though the eyes of his body were blind, he could, with the eye of his heart' see such a glorious sight."

EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN PHENOMENA SUPPOSED TO BE SUPERNATURAL.

WHEN the following communication was received, we were disposed to suppress it; but on farther consideration, we thought that a natural and simple solution of the phenomena which it describes, might be useful to the writer of the narrative, and such of our readers as might not have paid attention to subjects of this kind. We have, therefore, determined to insert it.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BAPTIST MEMORIAL.

A LADY who resides near M. H., a subscriber to your invaluable work, so much wanted in these degenerate times, when atheism and infidelity have overcome Christianity in a most alarming manner, wishes to have inserted in the Baptist Memorial an account of two awful visions which have been seen near the place of her residence, thinking it might be the means of converting some from the dreadful supineness and delusion they are under: as from her knowledge of the Scriptures, and what is now acting on the stage of the world, she believes the prophecies are very near their full accomplishment, and that all true believers are of that opinion. The first vision was seen by Captain Jones, of the

lying at

He says that on Thursday the 19th of July last, about six or seven o'clock in the evening, he saw the vision of seven ships in the element at the harbor's mouth in action, and could distinguish the French, English and American colors; after an hour's action, an angel appeared with a trumpet, which. when he blew, all vanished away. The captain called all the men out of the hold, who saw them as well as himself. It has been much talked of at Mwilling to make his affidavit of it, but as the men are

and the captain is

now dispersed in

different ships, their collected testimony could not be had. The other vision was related to the lady by a woman of whom she has the highest opinion for her honesty, faithfulness, and veracity, so that she places the greatest reliance on what she says. The writer of this has also conversed with the woman, and heard her relation of it. She, Margaret Thomas, says, that on the 19th of July last, she went with her daughter to H ; it was late when they returned home. Between ten and eleven o'clock her daughter happened to go to the front door, and called her mother to look at the moon, when she saw something in the form of a cross hover to and fro over the moon. The

cross appeared black. The moon then divided into three parts, a considerable distance from each other, not in different directions, but perpendicular. In about two minutes it dwindled away, in appearance as small as a rush light, and entirely disappeared. In about two minutes the moon appeared again, in a strange figure, and an awful form, much like a woman in deep mourning, with a hood on her head, covering her face, in a bending posture, to the earth; it remained so for a short time, then disappeared, swift as a star shot from the heavens. The horizon was clear, not a cloud passing at the time. She does not know how long the vision lasted, as it was begun before she saw it. She made her son, a boy of twelve years of age, write it down in her own words, that there might be no variation in the details given of it.

THE writer of the preceding narrative, in giving the title of "awful visions" to the appearances which she has described, evidently regards them as preternatural phenomena or prodigies, announcing certain events about to take place. We, on the contrary, supposing the facts to be authentic, and related with tolerable exactness, consider them as mere natural occurrences; and we shall accordingly proceed to shew, that such phenomena are neither extraordinary in their nature, nor unfre quent in their appearance. There is a certain state of the atmosphere that occasionally takes place, in which those rays of light that pass in a particular direction are refracted in an uncommon degree, and produce the appearance of ærial spectra. Under these circumstances, distant objects are apparently elevated to a considerable altitude, while they are, at the same time, rendered more distinctly visible.

A great variety of curious phenomena, depending on atmospherical refraction, have been long known to philosophical observers; and the explanation given of them is not difficult to be understood by those who are moderately versed in the science of optics. For the sake of those of our readers, who may not have paid attention to this subject, we shall present them with a few specimens of the effects of atmospherical refractions, which have been collected from the most authentic writers on this subject.

1. One of the most familiar instances of atmospherical refraction occurs near London, and may be observed by any person standing on the side of the Thames at Greenwich, when it is high water there. He may then see the cattle grazing on the Isle of Dogs, a marshy meadow, situa ted on the opposite side of the river. When it is low water, the cattle cannot be seen, being hid by the land, wall, or bank on the other side, which is raised higher than the surface of the marsh, to prevent its being overflowed by the Thames at high water.

2. In the transactions of the American Philosophical Society is the following letter from Mr. Andrew Elliott, dated Pittsburgh, November 5, 1787:

"On the 13th of last month, about ten o'clock in the morning, as I was walking on the beach, I discovered something that had the appearance of land in the direction of Presqu'isle: about noon it became more conspicuous, and when viewed by a good achromatic telescope, the branches of trees could be plainly discovered. From three o'clock in the afternoon till dark, the whole peninsula was considerably elevated above the horizon, and viewed by all our company with admiration. There was a singular appearance attending this phenomena. The peninsula was frequently seen double, or rather two similar peninsula one above the other, with an appearance of water between. The next morning Presqu'isle was invisible and remained so during our stay. Presqu'isle was about twentyfive miles distant, its situation very low."

3. We shall now transcribe a short account of the well known optical phenomenon, called Fata Morgana, or the Castles of the Fairy Morgana, which is often seen in the air, and in the sea, in the Straits of Messina. When the rising sun shines from that point whence its incident ray forms an angle of forty-five degrees on the Sea of Reggio, and the bright surface of the water in the bay is not disturbed either by the wind or the cur. rent, the spectator being placed on an eminence of the city with his back to the sun and his face to the sea, on a sudden there appears in the water, as in a catoptric theatre, numberless series of pilasters, arches, castles well delineated, regular columns, lofty towers, superb palaces with balconies and windows, extended alleys of trces, plains with flocks and herds, armies of men on foot and on horseback, and many other strange images, in their natural colors and proper actions, passing rapidly in succession along the surface of the water, during the whole of the short period of time while the above-mentioned causes remain. But if the atmosphere be at the same time highly impregnated with vapor, it then happens, that in this vapor, as on a curtain extended along the channel to the height of about thirty palms, and nearly down to the sea, the observer will behold the scene of the same objects, not only reflected from the surface of the sea, but likewise in the air. If the air be slightly hazy and opaque, and at the same time humid and adapted to form the Iris, then the above-mentioned objects will appear only at the surface of the sea, but all vividly colored, or fringed with red, green, blue, and other prismatic colors. P. Minasi, the author of this, says, that he has himself seen this appearance three times, and that he would rather behold it again than the most superb theatrical exhibition in the world