cleanseth us from all sin," and said, "I die in the faith of that verse," there were few, if any, who could restrain the flowing tear. This assembly, in some points, exceeded all the others. It was none other than the house of God and the very gate of heaven. The meeting at Abbey-road Chapel, St. John's-wood, was very large, and was characterized throughout by intense earnestness. A spirit of ardent gratitude, and reverential adoration burst forth at the opening of the service; and most fervent were the supplications for a present and rich blessing on the meeting. The outpouring of the penitential feelings of the hearts of the people, in a strain of deep contrition and child-like simplicity, was most solemn and affecting. The prayers for a revival of spiritual power, of holy devotedness, and of true practical holiness, were marked by intense fervour of soul, and by a genuine, humble confidence in God. Promises were pleaded, the glory of God and of Christ urged, and the love and faithfulness of a covenant God appealed unto, with an energy which nothing but the power of the Holy Ghost could have wrought in the heart. These prayers were followed by an address from Mr. Spurgeon, on the need and desirableness of attaining to a higher condition of practical spiritual life. Motives, drawn from the depths of eternal love, and the principles of eternal truth, were urged upon the consciences of God's people, to prompt them to strive after this higher life: and most sincerely did the brethren plead with the God of all grace, that all his people might be constrained to long for, and grow up into this hallowed state of true godliness. After a season of both silent and audible pleading with God for the salvation of perishing souls, Mr. Offord urged home upon the consciences of the unsaved the importance of decision, commenting on the words, "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God." The fire of wrath which fell upon the sinner's substitute, was spoken of in such language as might have fallen from prophetic lips. We forgot the man, and prayerfully listened to his sublime descriptions and thrilling appeals, feeling that the Lord was speaking through him. Pastor Stott, with that superlatively passionate enthusiasm which seems to be his very element, urged upon church members the importance of a present and thorough re-consecration of themselves, and all that they were, and all that they possessed, unto God; to which an instant response was given by numbers of persons; and with equal force and fervour he implored exercised souls to take God at his word, and at once to receive Christ as their only Saviour. There were in the assembly those who felt constrained to follow this counsel, and who testified that God had, by his Spirit, drawn their souls to the cross of his precious Son Christ Jesus that very night. The final meeting was held on Friday evening, at Vernon Chapel, Bagnigge Wells Road, which was crowded to excess. Again did the spirit of praise and adoration manifest itself. Blessing already so signally vouchsafed and spoken of, stirred the hearts of the brethren with true gratitude. But not less thorough and contrite was the spirit of deep humiliation, nor less earnest the prayers and entreaties which went up to the heavenly throne for pardon and healing, for deliverance and full restoration of soul. Mr. Spurgeon set before the people the sin of neglecting to watch for souls. Most lovingly did he seek to lay upon the hearts and consciences of the saved, the privilege and responsibility of endeavouring to bring the unsaved to Christ. With glowing thoughts and becoming words he implored the saints of God to live not unto themselves, but to him that died and rose again for them. May God, in his rich mercy, long spare this his servant, and make him yet more devoted, watchful, and successful in the work of the ministry. It must be acknowledged that the prayers presented to God, at this meeting, for the unsaved, were the most pointed and urgent of the unusually vehement pleadings which had gone up to heaven, during these services, for lost souls. Verily, the brethren and the people agonized with strong crying and tears for the salvation of sinners. Cries went up unto God, like the cries of men who call for help when their friends are ready to sink in the boiling waves, or to perish in the devouring flame. They | this remarkable week. The words, “Is seemed to see their fellow-sinners it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? standing on the verge of the fiery lake, behold, and see if there be any sorrow ready to plunge into its horrible tor- like unto my sorrow, which is done unto ments; and they called upon God to me, wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted pluck them as brands from the fire. We me in the day of his fierce anger," sounded do not recollect ever hearing more with most weighty meaning in the ears awfully solemn, and thrillingly earnest, of the crowded audience; and the loving and yet more tender pleadings (we had appeal to sinners, based upon the griefs almost said reasonings) with God, that of Calvary, was, we feel sure, sealed to he would then and there save souls the hearts of many by the Divine Spirit. from the wrath to come. These passionate yearnings over the deathless spirits of perishing men were followed by another of those gracious upliftings of the Saviour's cross which Mr. Offord was enabled to give during THIS We cannot, by such poor sentences as these, convey to those who were not present, even the faintest idea of what was felt and enjoyed. May the holy fire spread until all Churches shall feel its mighty power. Gleanings from Nature. DIPS INTO A POND.-RELATIVES OF THE WATER FLEA. HIS_little_creature has a consider- | growing plant will prevent the water able circle of relations. Were they from becoming offensive. They prefer, all to be gathered together round a cen- generally, the clear water of ponds to tral hearth, or pool, on any festive occa- that of running streams, and but few sion, say to partake of Christmas fare, will live if the water is foul; it being a we doubt if many of the guests could mistake to suppose that minute animal be brought to recognise some of their life thrives best in stinking and stagfellow-guests, as branches belonging nant water. It is true that, in such to the family tree-for, although not water, very large numbers of certain immediately related, yet by remote con- minute individuals, some of nature's nexion, the lordly lobster, the sideling scavengers, may sometimes be found; crab, and dusky crayfish, would be there; but the number of species obtainable while representatives from many climes, under such circumstances is but few. and flourishing under very differing circumstances, would expect to receive a greeting of welcome. We need hardly say, however, that our pond contains none of these; but looking through it toward the light, several specks of animated matter are seen; some keeping near the bottom, others darting hither and thither freely, but it is vain thus to endeavour to define the species-it is only by a practised eye that the several branches of the shelled-insect family, finding food and space here, can be distinguished one from the other. The Entomostraca, as one branch of the great genus of shelled animals-the crustacea-have several representatives in the ponds and ditches of our country, many of which live and thrive well in jars containing a small quantity of water with vegetable matter; not that they are all innocent vegetarians, but the By the aid of the dipping-tube, we remove a drop from our pond, and, placing it under the microscope, find it to be an elegant shrimp-like animal, having a single eye, of a bright red colour, in the middle of its head; hence its name-the cyclops. The shelly covering of its body is jointed somewhat after the fashion of the shrimp's coat, is transparent, and enables a view to be obtained of its internal economy. Its head is decorated with two pairs of antennæ, the larger of which are extremely elegant and curious in their construction, showing how carefully, and, at the same time, how beautifully the varied organs of minute animal existences are formed. Examine them as we may, bring the highest magnifying power to bear upon them, flood them with light, and nothing but fitness of form, with regard to the function to be. discharged, meets the eye. New beauties | your sight with a wonderful and intereveal themselves as the investigation resting spectacle, keep the eye to the is pursued; and as the mind wanders microscope awhile, and you will perceive back into the misty past, we seem to the membrane suddenly disrupted, the see the creative power evoking all this shells, if they may be so called, of the beauty and minute adaptation, not only separate eggs burst, and from sixty to that the creature might be possessed of seventy infant cyclops, sport before your all that its exigencies demand, but in gaze. But, you are ready to exclaim, order that that higher being, into whom can these little, turtle-shaped creatures, was breathed life from the Great Creator with legs sprawling in all directions, be himself, should have his mental faculties the children of that long-backed, shortquickened, and his loving sensibilities legged lady? It is even so! The developed, as, after long years of pa- young have very little resemblance to tient labour, he at length perfects his the adult animal, and, indeed, in more instruments so as to enable him to per- than one book of some scientific pretenceive these living lessons which, but for sion, they have been figured and dethe exercise of human ingenuity, would scribed as a distinct species of Entomoshave been lost to man. Is it too much traca-a lesson we shall do well to bear humbly to suggest that there may be in mind, as the form, colour, and strucspiritual existences who were gladdened ture of these animals vary considerably, by the exhibition of Divine love, as dis- according to their age and to the locality played in the ordinarily invisible works in which they are e found, and are, of course, of God before man knew of their being; influenced by the surrounding temperaand whose enjoyment of the sentiment ture and the food upon which they subsist. is not lessened now that it is partaken of by those who are a little lower than themselves? The superior antennæ are about the same length as the body of the animal, and, that they may be perfectly flexible, have twenty-six joints, from each of which spring one or more bristle-like hairs. The creature has five pairs of legs; four of them are bronchial, performing the office of lungs. Each of these four bronchial feet has two branches, and each of the branches three joints, all of them being furnished with a number of long plumes, like hairs, adding much to the beauty as well as usefulness of the organ. The end of the body is furnished with a tail, divided into two lobes, from each of which spring elegant and lengthy bristly filaments. The two dark bodies, similar to minute bunches of grapes, which are attached one on either side of the tail, are the external egg-bags of the creature, the one under review being a female. These external ovaries commmunicate with the internal ones, where the germs are elaborated, by means of a small canal on each side, along which the eggs, as they are formed within, pass to the exterior, where they are enveloped in a delicate, transparent membrane. The eggs now under the eye are near their perfect development, and if you would gratify The young undergo a gradual transformation, until, if preserved under similar conditions, at length they assume the shape, size, and colour of their respective, and we may add respectable, parents. The period of their infancy and youth depends upon the temperature in which they dwell. In summer, about eleven days suffice to enable them to pass through all their changes; but in the cold of early spring, the time required may be twenty-seven or twentyeight days. Animals of this class, as alluded to in the case of the water fleas, are examples of that singular phenomenon known amongst Naturalists as Parthenogenesis, in which the female, although carefully isolated, brings forth several successions of eggs. The number which one female may be the means of introducing in the course of a single season is very large. M. Jurine, who has devoted much attention to the cyclops, found that one female would lay about ten times, and produce at each birth from thirty to forty eggs in each of the two egg sacs, and thus become the direct parent of from six to eight hundred in the year. Allowing for the same fecundity in her female offspring, after deducting the usual proportion of males, which is about one to every four, Jurine calculates that the children, grand, and great grandchildren, of this one lady cyclops will number at | in Hampshire, is found the Artemia the end of the year no fewer than 4,442,189,000. We need not, therefore, be surprised at the fact that it is almost impossible to dip a bottle into a pond favourable for their growth, without securing some of these pretty little creatures. Some branches of the Entomostraca family are only to be found in the adult state, parasitical on other animals. As juveniles, they are free swimmers, and in appearance not unlike the young cyclops; but in due time, guided by some occult motion, they take up their abode in positions, one would at first think, most unlikely to conduce to their development or comfort. One (Nicothoe) having for its host the lobster, becomes an unwelcome guest, firmly attached to the gills of that animal. Another (Actheres Percarum) affixes itself to the mouth of the Perch, when its two fore legs undergo enormous development, and uniting, become a kind of sucker to enable the parasite to take the firmer hold, while its mouth is pressed closely against the host, upon whose juices it is nourished, until a large number of eggs are developed in the internal, and perfected in the external ovaries, which, bursting, give forth numerous young, many of which are no doubt devoured by fish and other creatures, but some find their destined places as parasites on the perch. This branch of the family is known as the Siphonostoma, having a siphon or tube connected with the stoma, the mouth. One of the most elegant forms of these is very commonly parasitical on the common stickleback; and if the water in which gold and silver fish are kept be renewed from a pond, these fish, which are too often in an unhealthy state, not unfrequently become victims to the attacks of a large number of them. Their bodies are covered with a round shield or buckler, which is a very interesting and beautiful object for the microscope. We may also mention a curious branch of this family, which not only delights to live in water more salt than few ordinary marine animals can endure, but it cannot exist if the brine be diluted beyond about four ounces of salt to the pint. In the brine pits at Lymington, Salina, or brine shrimp, occurring in summer in such large numbers as to impart to the water a tinge of red, that being their natural colour. They also occur in salt marshes, where the quantity of salt is considerable, as well as in the salterns of Siberia, and other places. They are of much larger size than those species above referred to, and are easily observed by the unaided eye. Their form is elegant, and their motions agile and graceful in the extreme; they swim generally on the back, now upwards, then downwards, turning over, bending the body into the form of an arch, and springing forward in curves, evidently enjoying the capricious gambols in which they are employed. The egg pouch is carried under the tail of the mother, so that, when hatched, the young not unfrequently become entangled in the currents caused by the bronchial feet, and are carried toward the head of their mamma, who, we grieve to say, has no hesitation in making a meal off as many of her children as come in her way. The babies who fortunately escape this sad fate undergo several metamorphoses ere they arrive at the full dignity and perfect form of the parent animal. Let us return to our own pond. See! There are some tiny specks moving through the water with ease-not quickly, as the water-flea, or by fits and starts, as the cyclops, but with a steady, continuous motion. There are others creeping on the bottom, apparently but little disposed to swim: these are other relatives of the waterflea-namely, of the branch, Cypridæ. We will take one of those which are swimming, and examine it by the aid of the microscope. It is enclosed in a hard, horny, carapace or shell, in two pieces; hinged at the back, like a tiny mussel. The creature has but one eye, and was therefore included in the Linnean class Monoculi. The shell is too opaque to admit of the internal organization being well seen, but, projecting from the shell, are elegantly-feathered filaments attached to the three or four last joints of the antennæ, which give the name of "Ornata" to this species. The feet are occasionally thrust below, and are ornamented with many bristly hairs. The food of this tribe is decaying animal and vegetable matter, and they doubtless fulfil an important function in removing much that would be offensive, and even destructive, to higher forms of existence. To appropriate this food, they are furnished with large and strong jaws, with five teeth. The eggs are perfected within the ovarium, and, when excluded, are covered with a glutinous material, by which they adhere to the surface of stones, shells, plants, or other convenient receptacles, in their habitats. A season or two since, those in our pond were so numerous and prolific, as to entirely cover the surface of the glass below the water with their eggs, and, in many instances, eggs were laid upon eggs, while every fragment of vegetation swarmed with them. When they were hatched, in the spring, the water was literally full of them, of all sizes and ages; but there not being sufficient food for so large a company, a famine soon ensued, and numbers of them perished. When dead, no doubt, they afforded food to many of their stronger brethren, some of whom, in their descendants, many generations removed, we have before us. The young undergo no metamorphose. When they emerge from the shell, they have the same form as their parents; but, of course, proportionately small, and the parts extremely delicate. The shell is as unyielding as that of any of the shelled animals; and, as the little fellow grows rapidly, he soon becomes too large for his jacket. What is to be done? If he cannot enlarge it, he had better throw it off and obtain a new one. Accordingly, we have frequently isolated specimens; and, after a short time, have found the cast-off shell lying beside the animal, which, in its new suit, is as lively as ever. I have never been so fortunate as to witness the throwing-off the shell, but it is, without doubt, rapidly done, and the new shell must be formed within, although it is probably not hardened until the water comes into contact with it. This change of garment is a curious phenomenon, as it is not only the sheil which falls off, but the covering of the body within the shell, including even that of the extremely delicate legs and antennæ. The rejected coat is a pretty object for observation, and appears to be inverted when thrown off. The lineage of the Cypris is most interesting; compared with it, the age of the Stuarts, the Plantagenets, or the Barons who came over with the conqueror, are but as yesterday. Nay, beside the antiquity of this little animal, even man himself, dating his existence from the hour when God called into being the lifeless clay, and placed him amid the flowers and beside the rivers of Eden, must be accounted as of modern origin, for the Cypris lived, in all its minute beauty, in far, bygone agesit is believed, long, long before any of the birds or mammals which now tenant the globe were called into being. It is probable, this tiny animal is the sole connecting link between the far-off past, which geologists have termed the period of ancient life (Palæozoic), and our own time. Its remains are found fossilized among the relics of that era which gave man the rare treasure he possesses in the deeps of the earth. When the land brought forth the gigantic, curious, but beautiful vegetation of that age, which has become known to us as coal, the clear waters of the ponds and lakes, upon the borders of which grew the lofty sigillaria, the calamite, or the gigantic club-moss, were tenanted by large numbers of Cypris, whose shells remain embedded in the sand and other stones formed at that time. They are contributing their quota, at the present day, to the building-up of the solid rock. On excavating, some years since, the hard lime-marl which formed the bottom of a drained lake in Forfarshire, among other organisms, myriads of the shells of the Cypris were found, exactly as they occur in many of the ancient freshwater marls. Cypris! I take off my hat, and make my bow to you, as the living animal which has the most ancient lineage. If antiquity of family can confer nobility, then art thou most noble, and thy blood should be of all purple the purplest; but it is, in truth, of a limpid character, and without colour; yet dost thou pursue the path marked out for thee, and art ever ready to perform thy work in the grand scheme of nature, regardless of the nobility of age, and evidently teaching that present life and useful labour is to be preferred, before dignity of title or lineage. It may well be supposed, that these |