pression of which on my mind it is impossible to communicate to mortal man. Immediately I reflected on my happy change, and thought, Well, blessed be God, I am safe at last, notwithstanding all my fears. I saw an innumerable host of happy beings surrounding the inexpressible glory, in acts of adoration and joyous worship; but I did not see any bodily shape or representation in the glorious appearance, but I heard songs and hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise, with unspeakable rapture. I felt joy unutterable and full of glory, and requested leave of my conductor to join the happy throng; on which he said, You must return to the earth. This seemed like a sword through my heart. The three days during which I appeared lifeless, seemed to me not more than ten or twenty minutes. The idea of returning to this world of sorrow and trouble gave me such a shock, that I fainted repeatedly. Such was the effect on my mind of what I had seen and heard, that if it be possible for a human being to live entirely above the world, and the things of it, for sometime afterwards, I was that person. The ravishing sound of the songs and hallelujahs that I heard, and the very words that were uttered, were not out of my ears, when awake, for at least three years. All the kingdoms of the earth were in my sight as nothing and vanity; and so great were my ideas of heavenly glory, that nothing which did not in some measure relate to it, could command my serious attention." Yes: God can speak to us when we are in deep sleep if he pleases, and such dreams, or visions, as these are not to be disregarded by us; for they are sent for our good. THE HAPPIEST DEATH TO DIE! WHICH is the happiest death to die? With bright celestial views; Mine were a lingering death without pain, A death that all night love to see, And mark how bright and sweet would be, "Fain would I catch some hymn of love "No," said another, "so not I; Sudden as thought is the death I would die; "So would I die! All bliss without a pang to shroud it! So would I die! O how bright were the realms of light Even so I long to go, These parting hours, how sad and slow!" His spirit had flown Painless and swift as his own desire! His soul, undrest From her mortal vest, Had stept in her car of heavenly fire! And proved how bright Were the realms of light, Bursting at once upon the sight! DESIRING TO BE WITH CHRIST. A FEW WORDS ABOUT OWLS. OWLS have all large round heads, and large eyes adapted for night vision, surrounded by a circle of slender feathers; the beak is crooked from the base; they can move the outer toe either backward or forward; their talons are strongly curved and sharp; their feathers are soft, and covered with down, and make no noise in flying. Owls, which the ancients chose as the emblems of wisdom, from their imperturbable gravity and life of retirement, have in later times, on account of their strange unearthly appearance, the loneliness of their habitations, the silence of their motions, and the harshness of their cries, been regarded by vulgar prejudice as fowls of evil omen; though of all birds of prey the most useful to man, by destroying those swarms of mice and other petty but dangerous enemies of our corn-fields, barns, and barn yards, whose multiplication, where it not for them, would increase to a ruinous extent. It is mentioned by an old English writer, that "in the year 1580, at Hallowtide, an army of mice so overrun the marshes near Southminster, ¦ that they ate up the grass to the very roots. But at length a great number of strange owls came and devoured all the mice. The like happened again in Essex about sixty years after." For this service owls are admirably adapted by their conformation and instinct, seeking their food by night, and on the surface of the ground. Incapable of enduring the glare of the sun, their activity commences with twilight. During the day, they sit perched and motionless in their dark retreats, amid mouldering ruins and in solitary places; if disturbed, they do not attempt flight, but assume a variety of attitudes, and use the most ludicrous gestures. Then the smaller feathered tribes, who have a natural antipathy to them, assemble around, insult and attack them in their helpless state; but so soon as the light fades, these tormentors must either seek safety in flight, or pay the penalty of their impudence. Owls are aided by a sense of hearing so nice, that they perceive the least rustling among the leaves of the trees or the herbage on the ground, and thus are enabled to discern and seize the birds retiring to their nests, and the smaller animals seeking their holes. |