Heaven is a day without a cloud to darken it, and without a night to end it.-J. Mason.

Eye hath not

Endless pleasure, pain excluding,

Sickness there no more can come ;

There, no fear of woe intruding

Sheds o'er heaven a moment's gloom.--Collyer.

seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.-1 Cor. ii. 9.

AN EXPOSITION OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.

And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.— Acts of the Apostles ii. 18.

AN EARTHQUAKE.

To the Editor of The Times.

in South

SIR,-On Friday last, the 14th instant, an extraordinary phenomenon occurred, which you may think worthy of notice. About four o'clock, p.m. a loud report was heard similar to the explosion of a powder magazine, and at the same instant the ground shook with considerable violence, the concussion being felt throughout the villages of Sedgehill and Knoyle (situated in South Wilts), and causing much alarm. In my own house The late bells were set ringing, chairs and crockery were shaken, and the earthquake servants ran in various directions, some to the cellar, thinking Wilts. the noise proceeded thence; others to the stables, supposing they had fallen. A lady, whose residence is situated on a hill a mile hence, concluded a part of her house had given way, and was so much shaken in her chair that, to use her own words, "she thought she was going through the floor." A young lady on a visit in the same house, and who had experienced the shock of an earthquake in Jersey, had no doubt of the nature of the recent phenomenon. In one cottage, having a firm brick flooring, the bricks were moved up, and my daughter, with a companion, happening to be gathering flowers at the time in a hanging copse-wood, and consequently stooping near the ground, felt the movement of the earth most sensibly. I have no doubt what

ever of our having felt the shock of an earthquake; and a
groom who was engaged at the time in the stables, and who,
from having been some time in the West Indies, is familiar with
such phenomena, assures me there can be no question on the
subject. At first, he was of opinion that a violent earthquake
had taken place in some distant country, of which we felt the
vibration; but as I have not heard that it was felt in England;
beyond this valley, I am induced to conclude it was a local
phenomenon. The soil of the valley is clay, with a sub-stratum
of ironstone.

I enclose my card, and am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,

March 17, 1856.

M. M. J.

Terrible visitation of the

Great King upon admirers

AWFUL EARTHQUAKE AT JAPAN.

Liverpool, 28th March, 1856.

The advices per the Baltic convey the intelligence of a dreadful earthquake, by which the town of Jeddo, in the island of Japan, was completely destroyed. The news. was brought to San Francisco by the schooner Page, and the following are the particulars :

On the 11th of November, at ten o'clock p.m., a violent earthquake occured at Jeddo, which destroyed one hundred thousand dwellings, fifty-four temples, and thirty thousand inhabitants. Fire broke out at the same time in thirty different shippers of parts of the city. The earth opened and closed over thousands of buildings, with their occupants. The shock was severe at Simoda.

and wor

idols.

The late

earthquake in Japan.

Japanese

Although the distance from Jeddo to Simoda is but sixty miles, it appears that no official account of the carthquake had been received at the latter place at the time of the sailing of the schooner Page, Dec. 10. The news was obtained through the Dutch interpreter. The Japanese seemed to attach but little forewarned importance to the catastrophe. The inhabitants of the portion geance, and of the city destroyed were forwarned of the disaster, and many of them escaped. The buildings of Jeddo are chiefly of one story, and constructed of very light material. The temples of worship, however, are lofty, and in some instances are constructed of heavy

of ven

many

escape from it.

masonry.

Jeddo, according to the best authorities, is the second capital of the empire, being the residence of the military emperor.

It

is located on the north-east coast of the island of Niphon, and contains a population of a million and a-half of souls. It is stated to be enclosed by a trench, and intersected by numerous canals and branches of a river, navigable for vessels of a moderate burden. It has a fortified palace, with very extensive grounds, many noble residences profusely ornamented with sculpture and paintings, several large religious temples, and other public edifices. It also contained the Imperial library, composed of 150,000 volumes. The houses are mostly one story in height, Destruction but being generally built of wood, are subject to frequent destruction by fire; certain it is, that of the 100,000 dwellings demolished by the recent convulsion, a large proportion of them fell a prey to the flames.

of 100,000 dwellings

and 54

infidel

Earthquakes are not unfrequent at Japan. We need scarcely refer to the one in the bay of Simoda a little more than a year ago, during which the Russian frigate Diana was wrecked. In 1596 a number of Japanese cities were destroyed, and many thousand persons perished. Indeed, that quarter of the globe has afforded the most extraordinary instances of the phenomenon on record. In 1662 an earthquake at Pekin buried 200,000 persons, and at the same place, about 70 years later, 100,000 quakes in were swallowed up.

Two earth

China swallow up

300,000 people.

EXTRAORDINARY METEOR.

To the Editor of The Times.

dinary appearance

SIR,-Perhaps one of the most extraordinary meteors that Extraor ever appeared in England was seen from two independent stations in the parish of Beeston yesterday (Friday), at 3 h. 57 min. p.m., and, of course, in broad daylight. Had this phenomenon occurred at night time, it would have been a glorious object.

of a meteor in England.

The following particulars may be relied upon :-"The meteor moved nearly perpendicularly down, inclining to east. It was first seen as a circular body, of about half the apparent diameter of the sun, being accompanied by a stream of light; afterwards it increased to almost the diameter of the sun, and then burst into fragments, with an explosion. The report of the explosion Explosion was from 1 sec. to 3 sec. after the meteor had disappeared, and resembled distant thunder. The meteor passed over about 15 distant deg. of space, disappearing 30 deg. E. of N., at an altitude of about 10 deg.; duration, 3 sec. It was was very brilliant, shining with a somewhat yellow light. Soon afterwards, near the

of a Meteor resembled

thunder.

astrono

mical

spot where it had disappeared, a band of prismatic colours was E. J. Lowe's visible, being 2 deg. wide and 5 deg. in length. This phenomenon when first perceived was as brilliant as a rainbow, but soon faded, finally disappearing in about 5 min. Clouds were seen from dispersed over the sky, from behind one of which the meteor appeared, afterwards vanishing behind another. The prismatic colours were seen upon clouds, or shining through them.

account of the meteor

parish of Beeston.

"The difference of position as seen from two stations half a mile asunder, together with the report from the explosion occurring within 1 sec. and 3 sec., makes it probable that it fell within a mile of this place, most likely north of the Beeston Observatory, and north-west of the Highfield-house Observatory. Search will be made for meteoric fragments, and possibly with good chance of success.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

Observatory, Beeston, October 29, 1856.

E. J. LOWE.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have ascertained that it was well seen from Beeston by Mr. W. Felkin, jun., who has kindly given me these additional interesting particulars :-The meteor at first moved much more obliquely than afterwards; it three times burst into fragments, and was distinctly observed topass beneath a cloud.

A terrible

the

Sandwich
Islands.

VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN THE SANDWICH ISLES.

THE Volcano on Owyhee is in a state of unusual activity. Volcano in It has been playing the mischief for the last six months. A stream of liquid lava is flowing from its crater from three to seven miles wide, downward a distance of seventy miles, filling gulches, destroying forests, running its fiery track across rivers, &c., and still it flows on. The flow of lava is now within a few miles of one of the most lovely villages and valuable harbours on the whole group of islands. The destruction of both appears inevitable.-Morning Star, 14th April, 1856.

Massa

chusetts Bible Society.

CROMWELL'S SOLDIER'S BIBLE.

[From the American Watchman and Reflector.]

In the report of Governor Washburn's speech at the late annual meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society, there

which made

occurs the following statement, viz. :— "Go to the time of Observe the Cromwell. Observe the causes which made Cromwell and the causes Commonwealth. In the army, every man had a Bible in his Cromwell knapsack, and daily read it, and sung the praises of God; and the result was the like of what has been seen in the history of Puritanism."

and the Common

wealth. History of Puritanism.

Soldier's

His Excellency's statement is substantially correct, and the spirit of his speech is entirely so. But it is not literally in accordance with historical accuracy to assert that the soldiers carried the Bible in their knapsacks, nor was it the whole Bible with which the army was furnished. "The Soldier's Pocket The Bible" consisted of appropriate selections from the Scriptures, Pocket printed in a pamphlet form. It was generally buttoned be- Bible. tween the coat and vest, next to the heart, proving, perhaps, sometimes a defence from the weapons of the enemies of their bodies, as well as from the wicked one who sought to subdue their souls.

But very few copies of this curious Bible have been preserved. A brief description of it, therefore, may not be uninteresting to our readers. It was printed on a single sheet, folded in the 16mo. form, and making sixteen pages. The whole title-page is worth copying, as it presents a fair and by no means extravagant specimen of the great titles to little books which prevailed about the time of the English Commonwealth. It was printed within a neat border, and read as follows :—

THE SOULDIER'S POCKET BIBLE.

Containing the most (if not all) those places contained in Holy Scripture, which doe shew the qualifications of his inner man, that is a fit Souldier to fight the Lord's battels, both before fight, in the fight, and after the fight;

Which Scriptures are reduced to severall heads, and fitly applied to the Souldiers severall occasions, and so may supply the want of the whole Bible, which a Souldier cannot conveniently carry about him:

And may bee also usefull for any Christian to meditate upon, now, in this miserable time of Warre.

IMPRIMATUR.

Edm. Calamy.

Josh. i. 8.

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but Book of thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou maist observe to doe according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and have good

successe.

Printed at London by G. B. and R. W. for G. C. 1643.