JUNE 1, 1863.] THE GODS OF THE HEATHEN. THE NEW PENNY MAGAZINE. COW NATURAL TO OUR EAR is the sound of the words-"To us there is but one God"; how difficult to fancy ourselves ignorant of this first great truth. It seems to us a part of our very nature, as if we drew it in with our mother's is blurred and distorted, and as when the eye milk, and came to know it as a matter of is injured we see objects mis-shapen and miscourse, just as we know that we have a father placed, so by the fall of man the true knowand mother. And indeed it is a part of our ledge of God is lost. It is no longer a matter nature: for man was made in the image of of course that we see Him as He is. The God, and that image has never been wholly mind's eye must be healed and re-invigorated destroyed; but our nature is fallen, the image before it can discern spiritual truth. Here we have the Temple of Neptune at of Wisdom, and to others too numerous to Corinth, represented (see woodcut page 44) as mention. There were Gods of the mountains, it now is in ruins. When St. Paul preached Gods of the vallies, of the rivers and fountains, the gospel at Corinth, this Temple no doubt of the woods and highways, household Gods was perfect and complete; and near it stood too, or Penates. other temples, to Apollo the God of the Sun, to Bacchus the God of Wine, to Venus the the Goddess of Love, to Minerva the Goddess Neptune, the Son of Saturn and Ops, was the God of the Sea and the father of rivers and fountains. Instead of a sceptre he bore a trident, or three-pronged javelin, such as are still used for spearing fish. He was also thought to preside over horse and chariot races; and to show in his chariot by hippocampi, or sea horses, both his offices he was represented as drawn which had the head and shoulders of a horse united to the hinder parts of a fish. These and such as these were the fables with which the learned Greeks and Romans amused themselves, and tried to satisfy their ignorant fellow countrymen. Yet all the while they had a secret yearning after the Oneness of the Godhead, groping in the shadows, "if haply they might feel after Him and find Him," and in their perplexity building altars "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." Let us thank God that he has given us a brighter light, and not only made us to know that "there is but one God," but also given us the "One Mediator between God and Man," by whom we may draw near to the unseen God, as a reconciled Father. Let us remember at the same time that there are thousands of Heathen who have "no hope and are without God in the world," who make to themselves idols of silver and gold, of wood and stone; who trust in the work of their own hands. Many of these are our fellow countrymen, subjects of our own Queen; and to whom should they look but to us, to show them the light which we have so freely received? If you have in your parish a missionary society, a branch of "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," see that you subscribe to it cheerfully and liberally; and ask of God to grant His blessing on the labours of missionaries, that His kingdom may come, and that to all, as to us, there may be "one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." H. V. ANCIENT AND MODERN MARTYRS. "The noble Army of Martyrs, praise Thee, O God!" THEN WE HEAR THESE words, Sunday after Sunday, in our quiet churches, do we pause to think of whom we are speaking? or do we think, as I know I did once, there are no martyrs now a-days?" and so forget that these words, like all the rest of the church service, are meant to teach us something, and that we ought to try to find out what that is? A martyr means one who is brave enough to die for what he knows to be the truth, as St. Stephen did, and St. Peter, and St. Paul, and many, many more. "But then those were all men we read about in the Bible"-perhaps, you think "not men like us." Indeed, Peter, and Stephen, Thomas, and Paul were every one of them men just such as by God's help, you may be. Nay, the Bible tells us of their faults: how, gentle and courteous as St. Paul was, he yet contended with Barnabas, till they were glad to part: how, brave as St. Peter was, he flinched from the truth. These, and other things like these are written that we may know that the best man that ever lived is not free from sin, and that we may fight against sin, as they did. Still I know, somehow it always seems, as if it must have been easier to them to be good men who had been with our Lord, scen His face, and heard His words, than it is for us. No; God gives the same grace to men, at all times and in all places, if only they will seek his help. In the great Exhibition of last year there was one picture, few could help looking at. It looked like the inside of a small cowshed. there lay a boy, of about fourteen or fifteen, fast asleep, his hands folded on a little wooden cross. His face was very pale, and his eyes looked heavy and sunken. Indeed if he had not been so weary he could not have slept, calm and brave and manly as his face was even in sleep. For through the bars of a kind of wooden crib, you could see the muzzle and the sharp claws of a large panther, you could almost fancy you heard it snarl, while the door of the shed was being forced back by a rough, hard featured, cruel-looking man. In a few minutes more that boy was to be led into the circus, and that fierce hungry panther let loose upon him, to make sport! for the throngs of men, aye and women, who sat there. There are hard cruel things done even now, that make one's heart ache; but thank God, no such doings as that-for that is the picture of a true story. Years ago, in the days when Rome was a heathen city, the Emperors had guards, just as our own Queen has now. You may hear of the Grenadier Guards, and the Fusileers, and the Life Guards, and the Blues. The two first are foot guards, the others are horsemen, and so were the Roman Emperor's African Guards. The Roman soldiers were very brave, and their officers many of them men of real worth. Their are several-five, I think, mentioned in the New Testament, all of whom were what, speaking as we do now, we should call gentlemen, and really good men. The Emperor's guards were chosen men, and so too were their officers. Now St. Paul had been at Rome more than once. He taught the Gospel wherever he went, so there were many Christians at Rome, in spite of all the Roman Emperors could do to put them down. In the reign of Diocletian one regiment of his guards was of Africans-blacks. They were commanded by a young man named Sebastian, a young and very handsome man, whom every body liked for his pleasant manners, and loved for his kind heart, and for the goodness they could feel, though they could not understand what it was that made him so good. Sebastian was a Christian, he had learnt to know and to love Jesus Christ, and for his sake, to love his fellow men. Among his many friends was one, a lady who had been early left a widow with one son, a boy named Pancratius, who was as fond of soldiering as boys are apt to be, and was constantly with his mother's friend. And this boy too from his mother's Sebastian's example. a Christian then. was a Christian, partly teaching, partly from Think what it was to be Once the Emperor Nero, took it into his head to have a race after dark, the course was lighted-but how? instead of lamps, posts were placed at short distances, and to each was fastened a living Christian, wrapped in a thick cloth, smeared with tar and set on fire! And I could tell you of worse things even than these. Ought we not to think of the noble Army of Martyrs when we are tempted to do what is wrong, or not to do what is right, and stand out boldly and manfully, as young Pancratius did? It would take too long to tell how after a time of rest and peace the Emperor was again worked on, to order death to the Christians. In the chill grey of the early dawn Sebastian was led out alone, to die, to be put to death by the men of his own regiment. Fierce savage blacks from Mauritania. He probably knew but little of their tongue. They knew less of his. Without one friend to speak to him, one pitying eye to look on his misery, or any to say a word to cheer and encourage him, he was led to the nearest tree, stripped, and tied up, to be shot at for a mark with arrows, till death ended his sufferings. Alone yes-but not alone-for God was with him as He had been with Stephen. His little friend the boy Pancratius was taken from him and shut up in one of the dens, where the Romans kept the captives whom they made to fight with wild beasts. There he was left till the next show-day. Then he was led out and the panther let loose on him, but happier than his friend, one blow from the beast's paw killed him on the spot. These are two of the noble Army of Martyrs. St. Pancratius-or Pancras's-memory is honoured among us to this day, and one large church in London is named after him. Do you still think that martyrs are not men like ourselves, or do you think it was so long ago, such things do not happen now? Not quite six years ago, a boy of sixteen left England to join his regiment in India. He was a bright lively boy, and for a time his life in India was very pleasant. It was but a few months, I think hardly half-a-year, before the terrible Indian mutiny broke out, and his regiment rose upon their officers. Arthur Cheek fought as an English boy does when it is his duty, but he and his party were overpowered. Terribly wounded || he crawled into the jungle; there he lay hid for two days, dragging himself into a tree at sundown to escape the wild beasts by night, lying close all day to escape the fury of men more savage than the beasts. Poor boy! On the third day he was found by them. Faint with loss of blood, spent with hunger and pain, he was dragged to the spot where the mutineers had gathered round a Catechist, a native Christian, whom they were torturing to make him deny our Lord. His courage was fast failing when Arthur Cheek was brought up beside him. "O Padre!" the boy said, "Only hold out, they can but kill us. Think of Jesus Christ's love, don't forsake Him!" By God's help the poor fellow took heart at once, from the gallant boy's example. By God's mercy his life was spared, for a party of English soldiers came up and rescued them, though not in time to save Arthur's life. God grant none of us may be called to suffer as these men and boys were, but may He be pleased to give us the same spirit, may we indeed fear Him, and know no other fear. WITTENBERG. ET SEVEN O'CLOCK one cold winter's morning, it was the 24th of December, we started for a fourteen miles drive to Wittenberg. Our conveyance was doubtless a britska, but a very different one from any you ever saw in England, and, whether from the badness of the springs or from the hardness of the road, we were jolted about as if we had been in an old fashioned waggon. Being but a light weight myself, I certainly should have been jerked out altogether, if I had not held on to the side with all my might, and I quite envied the solidity | of my strong and stout fellow-traveller, who, fitting himself tightly into one corner, escaped with a few bumps. There was something on the opposite seat, however, which, though small, seemed to keep more steady than either of us, and that was a small barrel, which excited my curiosity most strongly. No matter at what pace the fiery little black horses trotted over the rough and hard-frozen ground, this little barrel kept its place, upright as a drillserjeant, and apparently as heavy as the heaviest dragoon. "Do tell me," I said at last, "what have you in that wonderful little barrel, that won't tumble down?" "Only my half-year's rent," was the smiling answer. It was, in fact, full of thalers, that is, silver three shilling pieces, a little larger than our halfcrowns. Gold is not so much used here as in England, and as for notes, though they are inore abundant than anything else, the landlord, who in this instance was the King of Prussia, prudently declined to accept them. So every half-year he had a nice little barrel | of thalers. To reach Wittenberg we had to cross two rivers, first the Elbe and then the| Elster. The first we passed in a huge ferryboat, on to which we drove from the level shore, and we were punted slowly and wearily over the broad stream, the current carrying us, in spite of the efforts of the boatmen, to a point considerably below the one opposite to our place of embarkation. The second river was easily forded, as the water was not deeper JUNE 1, 1863.] THE NEW PENNY MAGAZINE. "Because Blucher's men encamped under Instead of wondering that the Germans are THE OLIVE. A. C. C. T IS VERY PLEASANT, yet sometimes disappointing, to see things I that one has heard of all ones life. remember the time when first I saw the olive tree growing abundantly in gardens and fields, more plentifully than apples or pears in this country. than the axle. The country we passed through looking; full of life and energy, with his feet was flat and uninteresting, except from his- planted on the ground firmly, his eyes keen torical associations. It is disappointing, and piercing, yet with a look of kindness and however, to find that great events have taken humour about them; altogether, a man who place in such extremely ugly, stupid-looking, could do anything, dare anything, yet not flat fields and dirty dull villages. The cot- without deep and warm feelings, with strong tages have no gardens, and they are generally and clear intellect, and a keen sense of the painted pink, or green, or light yellow, which ludicrous, above all, with reverence and gives them a tawdry look, especially in winter honesty stamped on his broad forehead. But time. At the entrance of every village there how different is the picture that hangs close is a black and white sign-post, on which is by? Philip Melancthon-calm, gentle, stupainted not only the name of the village, and dious, and sorrowful; no fire, no firmness of the district in which it is situated, but also there, except such as came from deep religious the number of the militia regiment to which conviction. Charles the Fifth once stood by its inhabitants have to contribute their quota. these graves; Alva by his side; the fierce and In fact, Prussia seems to me to exist simply intolerant Spaniard, would have had his for the purpose of maintaining an enormous master command the bones of the Reformers number of soldiers, who, poor fellows, have to be dug up and burnt; but Charles, if he nothing much to do after all. Every young act had not real greatness of soul, knew how to man is obliged to serve three years in the like a Monarch, and the dead were left in peace. In the old university buildings, once the I believe, in Prussia, who would not be dearmy, unless he has obtained certain distincHere notwithstanding the misery it might entail on tions at school and college, which entitle him Augustinian Convent, is the room where lighted at the prospect of a war with France, to be let off after one year's service. But this Luther and his wife used to live. one year often does the young men much another great monarch has left his mark. Over his own country; and this hatred extends harm, interfering seriously with his prepara- the door is roughly scribbled in white chalk, to those Southern Germans who assisted tion for his destined profession, and sometimes" Petr "-it is the autograph of Peter the Napoleon. In fact the idea of an united Gerinducing habits of idleness, which unfit him Great, Czar of Russia-in it time seems to many is never likely to be realized. The for any profession at all; for the Prussian have wrought no change. In the corner of southern states look to Austria, the northern soldiers have not the advantages that the the room is the tall black stove that Luther to Prussia as their natural leaders, but the It is covered with bas- absurd despotism of the present King of English ones possess, of going to many designed himself. colonies, and so seeing something of the reliefs of the Apostles, amongst whom St. John Prussia is holding back his country from assuworld. They are shut up in garrison towns, is oftenest represented; and of figures emble- ming its proper place, and has introduced a some of them very small and dull; some, like matic of the sciences, especially of music and complication and confusion into public affairs Berlin, full of all kinds of wickedness. As mathematics. In the centre of the market-of which no one can see the end. we approach Wittenberg we get on to the place is Luther's statue; on one side of the turnpike road, or rather, on to the government pedestal is the first line of his famous hymn, "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott"-A strong And these words are road, straight, and smooth, with a row of How tower is our God. tall Lombardy poplars on each side. At this delightful it is after the ruts, holes, and embroidered on the pulpit hangings of every hillocks among which we have been jolting. Lutheran church that I have seen. But why not have the roads good all over the time of the year there is a fair held in the country? Oh, that is left to the farmers to market-place, where good housewives purchase do; if they choose to make a good road a quantity of flax for winter spinning; and through the estate on which they live, whether where you may see enormous chests filled with their own or rented, they are at liberty to do honey cakes, which in appearance resemble so, but all the government undertakes is to our gingerbread; but which are very sweet make a good military highway from one and insipid. The booths at the fair are much I can tell you that if like our English ones, but the shops are very fortress to another. you come here you would suddenly acquire different. No plate-glass fronts, no tempting a great respect for the system of parochial display of goods, no polished counters. government which is established in England. might walk through the whole town without All the squabbles of vestries would be for- seeing a single article displayed for sale. I gotten, and you would be thankful that our found a shoemaker's out by a great deal of Queen does not think her subjects such perseverance, but I had quite a game of hide babies as to want her to manage all their and seek before I could discover him. I had to mount six stories up an ancient winding affairs for them. stone staircase, and then upon the topmost landing I found a door on which was painted a shoe. After being admitted and explaining my wants, I was kept waiting for the greater part of an hour while the master ascertained by slow degrees that he had nothing that would fit me; which he accounted for by saying that English people's feet were too narrow for German shoes. Every other shop was of In none did the same description, and distinguished only And now we enter by a small sign painted outside. Wittenberg-the Luther-town, as it is often the owners seem to have the least scruple called. Have you not seen those boxes of about wasting their own and their customers' and they seldom displayed much wooden toys that children are so fond of? time; Little yellow or green houses, with steep anxiety to part with their goods. This was scarlet roofs, churches without any architec- not the case in all the towns that I visited; ture to speak of, but distinguished by the but I am speaking of Wittenberg, which is a roofs being surmounted by sharp spires. Now, most wonderfully old-fashioned place; still I these toys are an exact representation of some found a good many others like it; and even at But our of the old German towns, of which Witten- Berlin the finest shops are not equal to those I berg is one. suppose the total absence of of Newcastle, Norwich or Exeter. stone in all this neighbourhood is one reason country does not know the horrors of war, and why the buildings are so uncommonly ugly. these poor Germans have suffered from it from Still, there are many things here that are generation to generation. interesting, if not beautiful. There is the Castle Church, with two round towers, pierced for guns at one end of it, and in this church Luther and Melancthon are buried. Instead of monuments their portraits hang over their graves, painted by Lucas Craurch, their friend, He was no whose house is not far off. flatterer, but painted the men as he saw them. coarse Luther, strong, stout, and rather Now, we must cross the Elbe again, just Here is a long white outside the town. bridge, and then more of these half-mourning poles and posts, with no end of ugly black eagles. But black and white are the Prussian colours, and you see them at every turn. The toll-keeper does not take the trouble to come out of his black and white hut, but pokes out a long pole with a bag at the end, into which we drop our money, he keeping his pipe in his mouth all the time. It was impossible to look upon this sacred I could not tree without a deep interest. When Noah sent out the dove You reverence. forget that it had always been regarded with from the ark, she returned the second time with an olive leaf in her mouth, plucked off from the tree, by which Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. Probably, for this reason, an olive branch has in all countries been looked upon as the emblem of peace. "His The olive tree is also used in the bible as an "As for me, I am like a green olive tree in emblem of plenty and prosperity. David says, the house of God;" and fulness of blessings Nor can Christians forget for Israel are uttered in like words, as the olive tree." branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be "Mount of Olives," and that it was among that the Garden of Gethsemane was on the the olive trees that our Saviour kneeled down and prayed, while his three disciples slept. I do not mean that I remembered all this when first I saw an olive tree, but I had my boyish thoughts and feelings upon the subject. I now I do not think that a country filled with confess I was at first disappointed, and even olives is a pretty sight. The tree does not grow to any great height; the leaves are English willow, a blueish green above and small and sharp, something like those of the almost white below. The effect is very curious of olive groves, as the wind sweeps over the on a windy day; looking out over many acres trees, you see waves of silvery white chasing each other across the country; and when the wind lulls all is again dark as before. These great olive plantations never can take the place of our English forest trees; nor is there in them anything like the bright cheerful freshness of an English hedgerow, green and brown and Why have the oak trees of the neighbour-yellow, white blossoms of the hawthorn, and all the rich variety of way-side blossoms. ing wood so few branches ?" "Where," I asked, "are the Church gates Why are the houses crowded together within the ramparts?" "Because the suburbs were laid in ruins at the last siege in 1810." Still, I have a great affection for the olive. The more I saw them the more I begun to like them. In among the mountains, in warm sheltered nooks, or on pretty terraces, we saw them side by side with fig trees, pomgranates, vines, and oranges, and grew to love their sober grey livery. If the leaves were not pretty, the gnarled, knotted, and twisted stems of the older trees made beautiful pictures, as we saw them in the gardens on the road side, at the foot of the Cottian Alps. These were the largest olive trees I ever saw, and they seemed to be immensely old; they threw their great twisted branches across the road, and I found myself riding on the outside of a high diligence, in some danger of having my head taken off, and only saved myself and my sleepy companion by stooping down below the luggage, and slapping him on the back to make him do the same, when I saw the danger coming. A pretty little fox dog that belonged to the conducteur was twice swept from the top of the carriage by the boughs. Somewhere in the same neighbourhood we saw the country people gathering the olives. Large sheets were spread upon the ground, and boys with long poles climbed into the trees and shook down the ripe fruit. In shape, colour, and size it resembles our damsons, but not at all in taste; it is extremely bitter, and draws one's mouth up like wild sloes. Nevertheless, it is a very valuable produce and the precious oil which is drawn from it finds its way into all parts of the world, and serves for many and various uses. POETRY. WE watched her breathing through the night, So silently we seemed to speak Our very hopes belied our fears; Our fears our hopes belied: For when the morn came dim and sad, HOOD. THE TRUE PRINCESS. to be his wife, but one that should be a CORRESPONDENCE. ARTHUR HEMSTOCK gives a correct answer to puzzle No. 1, in the April Number. "Fill the 5 gallon measure, then pour from that 3 gallons into the 3 gallon measure, leaving 2 gallons in the 5 gallon measure. Mark how high the liquor stands. Empty the 3 gallons back into the cask, then pour the 2 gallons into the 3 gallon measure, and from the cask pour 2 gallons, up to the mark in the 5 gallon measure, to that add the other 2 gallons from the 3 gallon measure, and you have 4 gallons, i. e. one half." It can be done without any marking of the vessels. 2. The number of people in the world far exceeds the number of hairs upon any one person's head. When therefore you have reached the highest number of hairs that can be found on one head, some of the same numbers must be repeated. 3. Because when you have bought it, it will belong [be long] to you. 4. Because a miser is always for getting [forgetting] and never for giving [forgiving]. JUNE. LUNATIONS. true princess. So he travelled the whole world round to One evening there was a fearful storm; it lightened "Ah! we shall know if it be so yet," thought the old queen, but she said nothing, and went into the sleeping room, took all the things off the bed, and laid a pea upon it. Then she took twenty mattresses and placed them the morning she asked her how she had slept. In 1 M Nicomede, M. Esther 5 Mark2 Esther 61Co.15 Jub. 2 781 Sunday aft. Trinity Josh. Job. 10 Mark8 Josh. 23 2Cor. 5 10-9 Job. 11 6 -13 7 -15 Ecclu.10 Act.14 Eeclu.12 Ac als ....... .............. 10 W 13 S Job. 16 Mar 12 Job17,18/2 Co. 9 -19-13 -20-10 14 8 2 Sunday aft. Trinity Judges 4 Mar 14 Judges 5 2Co.11 15 M ................ 17 W St. Alban, M. 19 Fr [Tr. of K Edw. 20 SQ Vict. Acc. 1837.* Job. 23 15 Job24,25 -33-3 -12 -28 -30 Gal, 1 -32 2 -34 3 36-4 “Oh ! extremely ill," said the princess. "I did not close my eyes the whole night. I know not what can have been in the bed. I slept on something hard, and I am black and blue from it. It was quite dreadful!" So they could tell from this that sho was a true princess, because she could feel a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down quilts. No one could have felt so acutely except a real princess. The to 10; 2nd Lesson, Rom. 13. Proper Psalms,—Mos n. 20, 21, 101. prince made her his wife, for now he knew he had the museum, where it can still be seen, unless some found a princess indeed; and the pea was put into one has taken it away. When gathered, the fruit is heaped up in barns and cellars for a few days, to allow just the beginning of fermentation to set in: only the beginning; for, if suffered to ferment throughout the mass as it lies there, the whole yield would be ruined, and rendered useless save for the coarsest purposes of manufacture. When the exact moment has arrived between loosening and fermentation, the olives are put into bulrush bags, called cabas, and crushed very gently under a screw. The pale, greenish-yellow, limpid, sweet liquid that runs from this first gentle squeeze, is called virgin oil, and is the oil used in the watch trade, not clogging the finest wheels; but happy the gourmand esteems himself who can go shares with watch makers, and command fresh virgin oil for his kitchen. When the virgin oil has run out, the half-crushed olives are taken out of the bags, to be put in again with boiling water, and again pressed, a little harder under the screw this time. The oil and water run out together; and, when cold, the oil floats on the top, and is skimmed off with flat ladles. This is ordinary oil, and very good NATURAL AND DIVINE LIGHT.-If any one is lying for the table too, when perfectly fresh, but down in a dark place, with his eyes closed and the light inclined to become rancid sooner than the of a candle suddenly flashes before him, his eyes, though virgin. After the skimming there is still some closed, are so struck by the very approach of the light, oil left in the water, which is led away into they were closed, or else they would not have opened; that they open. They must have seen something when a large cistern or reservoir, called l'enfer, and yet they did not see any thing perfectly, or else they where it remains for many days, the oil would not have needed to be opened to look at the thing gradually collecting on the top. Then the which disturbed them. This is like the imperfect way in water is drawn off from below, leaving the oil, which we know and see the mysteries of God, the for any greater number the postage will be in like which is known by the French as l'huile spiritual truths and divine doctrines of Religion. How d'enfer, or lamp oil. Another yield, called the Eternal Son was beggotten from the Eternal Father; 10, Wellington-street, Strand, W.C. l'huile fermenté (or fermented oil), is oil got and how the Son did yet not come after the Father from olives in a state of fermentation; but that begat him. We wonder at these things, we this is rarely employed, and the oil is never ponder them in our hearts, yet we cannot plainly see met with in trade. Only the virgin oil and the them, or take them in with our eyes or our thoughts. ordinary oil are sent abroad; l'hule d'enfer do in some sort and degree see them, else we should not Yet our wondering at these great truths shows that we and the horrible fermented stuff are mercifully be surprised at them, and desire to open our eyes to see kept at home. The wood of the olive tree is them more clearly, and to comprehend them better. of a grey colour, somewhat lighter than wal-So that, as I said about our bodily eyes, which, though nut, streaked in beautiful patterns, particu- closed, see the light faintly and imperfectly, even so larly near the root. It takes a high polish, and is much valued by the cabinet maker. BASIL. |