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THE wolf is common in Europe and America. Many years ago there were numbers of these animals in Eng land; but they were destroyed in the reign of King Edgar, who ordered his subjects to pay him a tax of wolves' heads, in order to have them killed. The wolf is about two feet and a half high, and three and a half long. He looks fierce, lank, and rough, and has a long, straight, bushy tail, and a long nose; he is commonly brown or grey,

VOL. II.

C

FEB. 1843.

but black wolves are often met with in North America, and white in the cold countries near the north pole. The wolf eats sheep, deer, and other animals; and is so strong that he can run with a sheep in his mouth. Great flocks sometimes make their way into small towns and villages, and seize and eat every animal they can find. Sometimes, too, they will attack men, and tear them to pieces; but this is only when they are made desperate by hunger.

A negro fiddler was once going through a forest in North America, when he saw a flock of wolves following him very cautiously. A few of them would sometimes run towards him, and growl as if in a hurry to devour him, and then return to the others. As he had several miles to go, he was in a great fright; he sometimes stopped, shouted, and drove back the wolves, and then went on again; but they became more daring, and would most likely have attacked him, if he had not taken shelter in an empty hut by the way-side. He climbed up the rafters and sat upon them, to escape from the wolves, which followed him into the hut before he had time to shut the door. They now became quite furious, howling with rage, and leaping up to try to get at the negro, who, seeing by the light of the moon that the hut was full of them, crawled to the top of the door, and by bolting it shut them in along with himself. He then threw some of the loose boards from the roof upon the wolves that were waiting outside, which soon scampered away, while those in the inside began to crouch with fear. Thinking himself now safe, the negro pulled out his fiddle, and played upon it all night, hoping to amuse the wolves, and tame them by his music. The next morning several neighbours came to the hut, and killed them all.

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It often happens in North America, that while the deer are quietly grazing on an open plain, the wolves gather together in numbers, and creep slowly towards the deer, in a half-circle, till they have quite hemmed them in, and the only way left open leads to a precipice or very steep rock. Then they rush upon them with horrid cries, which so frighten the deer, that they run over the precipice with such force that they are killed by the fall; and then the wolves creep carefully down, and feast upon their bodies. A gentleman was once sitting near the edge of one of these precipices, when hearing a rustling noise, he looked

round, and saw nine white wolves closing in upon him in the same way as they do upon the deer. He had but one chance of escape, and jumping up he walked boldly up to them, when they gave way, and he passed through the opening in safety. How thankful this gentleman must have been to have escaped this great danger; and I think English people ought to be still more thankful that there are no wolves now in our country.

THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE
TEMPLE.

"The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple,
even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: be
hold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts."-Mal. iii. 1.
IT is a remarkable circumstance that there should
be persons who object to the observance of fixed
holy days, in commemoration of the solemn events or
holy men celebrated in the Scripture history, when
we consider how many reasons may be given to shew
the propriety and desirableness of devoting an espe-
cial day to their remembrance. Among others, it
is not a slight one, that many of these events and
characters were the subjects of prophecy-as our
Lord's birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension
-the murder of the Holy Innocents, the character
and office of John the Baptist, the appointment of
Matthias, and the call of the Gentiles; besides many
that might be considered less important events, which,
had they not an especial place in the divine Word,
the same objectors would have probably esteemed
as very much beneath their regard. Such facts as
the flight into Egypt, our Lord's being called a
Nazarene, His driving the buyers and sellers out of
the temple, His triumphant entry into Jerusalem
on an ass, the children in the temple crying out
"Hosanna to the Son of David," the casting lots for
His vesture, the manner of St. Peter's death, fore-
told by the Lord Himself-may be thought, by a
casual observer, to shed little light on the grand

doctrines of the Gospel, and some relate not at all to our Saviour's character and ministry. That they should have been mentioned by the inspired writers so many hundred years before, might have excited surprise, had not custom rendered them familiar to the mind.

The event we commemorate this day-our Saviour's presentation in the temple-is of this description. The prophet Malachi's words are few that relate to it: "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple." The accomplishment was little striking and exciting to men of this world, unused to study the Divine dealings. Did the Jews picture to themselves a worldly conqueror, surrounded by the pomp and glory that attend earthly kings, coming in triumph to take possession of the sacred courts, they would indeed find little to answer their expectations, or even attract their notice in the actual realisation. He came to the temple of God as a helpless infant; seen once, and no more, by that generation. To the many, He was as an ordinary infant, and the blessed Virgin, an ordinary Jewish mother, presenting offerings according to the law of Moses. But there were some faithful souls, to whom the words of the prophet were especially addressed, "The Lord, whom ye seek." Such were Simeon and Anna, and perhaps others like-minded. Now, surely, where it has pleased God to cast that importance on every thing connected with the awful season of His Son's abode upon earth in human flesh, we should, far from looking upon any of the details as insignificant, be anxious to lay them to heart. Being fully alive to the weight and fulness of every part of His holy Word, we should be especially desirous to cherish any particulars with which we are favoured, that relate ever so remotely to our blessed Saviour. The remembrance of them should be a joyful service. Far from feeling the observance of holy days-whether those immediately celebrating the great events of

the Gospel, or those less prominent, to which our Church has made more sparing allusion-formal and irksome, devout and thankful minds should seize the good impressions, which, when attended in a right spirit, they tend to fix in the heart. Such will feel there is real cause for gratitude, that the Church has been directed to suspend, from time to time, the routine of her daily services, to hold up before us the example of some holy saint, or sacred incident, whose encouragement and support we might have otherwise lost at that particular time.

Let us especially beware, in the present day, of looking upon minute observances as formalities. There are a great many texts in the Bible which people who do so are apt to overlook. Such as, "He that despiseth small things, shall fall by little and little." Naaman, in the pride of nature, rejected the waters of Jordan, deeming that too simple a remedy for the captain of the host of the king of Syria; - the unbelieving Jews saw with their carnal eyes the infant Jesus and His humble train enter the temple, but nothing beyond-("there was no beauty in Him that they should desire Him");-let us fear lest in our case also a lurking pride or unbelief, a contempt of what does not at once approve itself to our human reason, be at the bottom of that reluctance to be tied to formal observances, or what is pronounced not necessary to salvation, which is now often so eagerly professed. We cannot greatly err while we follow the example of the servants of Christ who have gone before us; but the peril is on our own head, if we fly in the face of such texts as "Trust not in thine own understanding," and tire of the services of the sanctuary, because we do not think them calculated to edify, according to our notions. Even though we see not our way step by step, yet if we follow on in faith and patience, we know we shall not lose our reward, long though we wait for it. Simeon had, through a long life, acknowledged, by his just and devout conversation, and attendance in

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