ness of the scene except the tombstones of various hues and shapes erected in different directions within the enclosure.

Retracing our steps towards the pier-head, we turn to the right, which brings us to what is regarded by all visitors as a great curiosity, and an object well worth seeing-the Turtle Ponds. These are two large circular receptacles, hollowed out of the solid rock, connected with each other by a sluice-gate, and capable of containing between 300 and 400 turtles. The water is kept fresh in the ponds by the ebb and flow of the tide. Here we can see many of the turtles' backs appearing clear out of the water, and as we watch, others raise their heads above the surface and emit a heavy breathing, or take in a fresh draught of air. The weight of the turtle caught here is much greater than that of the turtle found at some of the West Indian Islands, or in the Mediterranean, ranging as it does from 300 lbs. to 700 lbs. Turtle-flesh is served out to the residents about once a week all the year round, so that turtlesoup, so much prized and relished by aldermen and gourmands at home, after a while ceases to be regarded as anything very wonderful by those whose foreign sojourn extends to three years and upwards. The turtle season begins in January and ends in May, during which time, in different years, the number captured has varied from 100 to 1,050. The naval authorities claim all the turtle that come on to the island, or that approach within three miles of its coasts. Merchant ships and the Royal Mail steamers are permitted to purchase them at the rate of £2 10s. each, irrespective of size. Within the last few years the capture of turtle has not been so great as formerly, and it is feared they are taking themselves away to some more congenial shores. When the season begins, volunteers as watchers are called for from among the marines. If the volunteers, on a medical inspection, are found strong and healthy, they are told off into parties of two, and sent to English Bay, Northeast Bay, South-west Bay, to Long Beach, and to Dead Man's Beach. At these various places huts are provided for them, and fresh water and provisions are sent to them twice a week. Their duty

is simply to turn the turtle. Night is the time for their work. They can sleep during the day, but they cannot amuse themselves, for the beaches and the bays afford no shelter from the scorching rays of the sun. The method of turning turtle is simply this: the watcher sees the turtle emerge from the sea, and work her way slowly up the beach above high-water mark. Then she hollows out a pit, some two feet deep, where she may lay her eggs. She deposits often as many as two hundred, then covers them over completely with a thin layer of sand, and leaving them there, makes her way back to the sea. Before reaching her goal the watchers rush on her, and with stout sticks throw her on her back-sometimes with difficulty, for she uses her fins with great skill. In this simple manner, then, as many as twenty are turned in the various haunts in one night. From Cross Hill, where a signalman watches the various passing ships, these haunts are all visible; and when turtle are there, a signal is made to the guard-ship, boats are sent for them, and they are brought in and placed in the ponds, where they remain till required for use. Wednesday is the day for slaughtering, and we may then see the turtle suspended by ropes from the gallows erected near the ponds. From several of them as many as 200 eggs have been removed before they are prepared to be served out. These eggs are all lost to the island, and show that the watchers, in their anxiety to turn the turtle, have neglected the most stringent orders laid down for their guidance, never to turn one until she is on her way back to the sea, after leaving her eggs to be hatched by the sun."

We have now seen all the places of interest in "The Garrison." The most casual visitor can scarcely fail to be struck with the remarkable cleanliness of everything; the wonderful neatness and order everywhere visible; and the efforts made to impart an air of cheerfulness to a place so naturally dull. Every one seems happy and contented; there are no idlers strolling about; all seem intent on their occupations, and no one complains of a monotonous existence, for each hour brings its own work, though often not of a very laborious nature.

2. Now look carefully at the testimony to his religious character; it is short, but very satisfactory. "In him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel." You, every one, have your difficulties-I admit that; but remember that he had the same difficulties as you have-his heart was as hard, corrupt, and treacherous; his passions and propensities to evil as strong; society as depraved; the conversation and influence of bad men as hurtful to his principles; the temptations to extravagance, forgetfulness of duty, profligacy, and ungodliness in every form-all these he had to meet in his day, making it as difficult for him to serve God as for you. Still, he had grace given to break through all these hindrances. He felt the value of God's favour and of his own soul. He sought first the kingdom of God. He resolved, as for himself, he would serve the Lord. When sinners enticed him, he would not consent. Mixing as he must with all sorts of characters, still his religious principle comes distinctly out. "In him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel."

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Many youths are found now, kind in disposition, upright and moral in their personal character, and justly esteemed for their amiable manners and bearing; but you soon see with regret, that they pay no real regard to the claims of God, and the great concerns of another world. Their duty to man they fulfil with commendable fidelity, and are so valuable to their employers that no one can whisper a word of dissatisfaction; but their duty to God, alas! is neglected and forgotten. It was not so with this youthful son of Jeroboam. Possessing all the amiable dispositions which make young people attractive and endeared, still he had the one thing" which is often lacking in amiable young people-"in him was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel." What that good thing was is not here said; but we can easily see that it was something that bore distinctly on his personal relationship with God,-his own spiritual life and welfare,-some faith and love, some submission and obedience,-some dutiful regard to God's law as given by Moses, and some real endeavour to understand and follow it,—some determined effort to set the Lord always before him, and whether alone or in company, to live day by day under the solemnising and restraining sense of his presence. He knew the habits of people around him. Seeing sin everywhere corrupting men's consciences, and blighting their feeble reverence for Divine things, he strove, in God's strength, to keep himself pure; and that was "some good thing." Young in experience, and weak as he was in faith, but little accustomed to brave the forbidding frowns of worldly and wicked men, still he looked up to God to make him wise, and strong, and faithful; and this again

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was some good thing." Every day he cherished some good" thoughts, purposes, and desires; every day some good" prayers for himself, his parents, and people, were poured out before God in secret. These things may have been but feeble, still they were something-some efforts were made for others' good,-some good plans formed for his future life, if life should be spared,- -some tears were secretly shed over the abounding iniquity, and ever-darkening prospects of his day;—so that in his every-day conduct,-in the things he did and things he refused to do,-in his conscientious reverence to the will of God, and his endeavours, though as yet imperfect, to bring others to obey and serve him too in all these respects I see that "in him was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel," and I commend him earnestly to your imitation.

3. Not that his religious principles were strongly developed. Of course not. He "spoke" as a youth, he "understood" as a youth, he "thought" as a youth. We do not expect that young Christians of your age will show the maturity of riper years. Abijah did not. Young people do not now. No one expects a young soldier just enlisted into the Lord's army to be as calmly brave in the face of peril, and as irresistible in the shock of battle, as others who have been long inured to the hardness of military life. All we ought to look for is, that the religion you have shall be true, and genuine, and real; in fact, that it be " some good thing;" that your Bible-knowledge be sound, reverent, and devout, though not deep; that your repentance, though yet imperfect, be such as leads you to hate all sin because it is sin, and God hates it, and resolutely to put away the first approach or even thought of it; that your faith though not strong enough to remove mountains, still receives Christ to be the way, the truth, the life; that kneeling down by your bedside, your private prayer be fervent and persevering; that your daily conduct be thoughtful, conscientious, and in some way or other useful to others; "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,”— '-we expect this. We make allowances for your youth. Your feelings, we know, are impulsive. Your judgment of things as yet lacks experience and discernment. You are not strong, or wise, or patient. We cannot expect all this just yet. It is the day of small things. Your self-acquaintance is little. Your knowledge of Christ, the Captain of salvation, and the Defence of his people, is little. The seed has not been sown long; it is only just in the blade-the work of the Spirit is only just beginning, still, see that it is true and saving as far as it goes. Only continue faithful,-abide in Christ,-endeavour day by day conscientiously and diligently to walk in the steps of his most holy life, and He who has begun a good work in you will lead you on to fuller knowledge, to deeper experience, to bolder conflict, and

holier walk. And here again, as a specimen of religion in youth, true and real, but yet imperfect, I set before you this youthful son of Jeroboam. 4. Perhaps you think you are too young to think of these things. But I present this example to you now, because yours is the period of life most favourable for religious impressions. In fact, it is true in personal religion as in everything else, if you would be successful you must begin early. If education be neglected in youth, it is almost impossible to be well educated afterwards. As years advance we gradually lose our aptitude for learning. Other faculties, no doubt, become maturer by age; we can judge, reflect, advise, govern, better as years go on; but when we try to learn new things, we are admonished that the proper time was in the morning of life. You see this in business every day. A man must make his position in life while his faculties are fresh, vigorous, and elastic; if not accomplished then, it is much harder, if not impossible, to attain any eminent success afterwards. Younger men, quick, active, zealous, diligent, gifted with tact and perseverance, are now everywhere sought after; they can bend themselves readily to new duties, become masters of their position, and ensure success. I am speaking now about men's progress in life. But it is precisely so in matters of religion. It is now spring time with you the golden aurora of life-rich in opportunity and radiant with promise. But life, like the sun, quickly runs its course; the shades of evening linger at no great distance, and the darkness of night soon shuts up the scene. A neglected spring must lead to an autumn of barren and hopeless disappointment. Beza, the great reformer, in his last will recorded his thankfulness to God that at the age of sixteen he sought and found Divine favour and forgiveness, thus preserving him from the numberless sins and sorrows and regrets that darken the closing years of worldly men. I know not how to speak words strong enough to convey the priceless value of early self-dedication to God. A man who lived for this world, and neglected the next, said, on his deathbed: "I have provided in the course of life for everything except death; and now, alas! I am going to die." Yes, my young friends, you will find myriads of people who neglect to think why they are sent into the world, till they find, to their dismay, they are obliged to leave it. A man who never thought of these things cried out, when he found it was too late: "Oh, my poor soul! whither art thou going? What will become of thee?" As you love your own soul, and would secure your everlasting welfare,-as you would shun the evils that make life wretched, and add intenser bitterness to the taste of death,-as you would realise the hopes of your loved and loving parents, and gild their evening sky with brightness,

as you would live in the esteem of good men, and, above all, secure the abiding approbation of God, which is better than life, then, I implore you, consecrate these golden years of youth to the blessed service of God. Remember Josiah, who from his eighth year served God. Remember Obadiah, who feared the Lord from his youth. Remember Timothy, who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures. 'Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not" (days of feebleness, decrepitude, and pain) "and thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." Again I implore you, be encouraged to seek the Lord early, by studying the character of this youthful Abijah, "in whom was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.”

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5. And now what is to be the result? You remember the story of Xerxes, the Persian king, who on surveying his mighty army assembled for the invasion of Greece, burst into tears when he recollected that in so many years every one would be swept away to the grave. As I look round on the vast congregation of young persons collected here to-night, the thought forcibly occurs, what, even as to this life, will the future of these young people be? A sight like this inevitably suggests such anticipations. Yet with most people life turns out to be a very different thing from what they ever expected. Scripture abounds with illustrations of this. Who would have thought that Jacob's youngest son would ever become the viceroy of Egypt, and by his administrative wisdom supply a dependent nation with provision during seven years of famine? Nor could he have done that if he had not been the sterling sort of man God made him to be. Who would have thought that a Hebrew captive should become prime minister in an Eastern court, administering the affairs of kingdoms, interpreting prophetic dreams, and deciphering the sentence of coming retribution written in appalling mystery on the palace wall? Yet so blameless was his conduct, that his worst enemies confessed they could find no fault in Daniel, except his faithful obedience to God. Who would have thought that a miner's son in Germany would become a great champion of the faith, and knock off the fetters of Romish supremacy from the consciences of half Europe, and earn for himself the enduring gratitude of the Christian world? Who would have thought that a sickly young man from Cambridge would become the pioneer to Christian missions in India and Persia, as Henry Martyn did, and bear a name enshrined in the immortal affections of the Church of Christ? And there are men now living, occupying posts of great importance in every department of life, who never dreamt in earlier years that they should ever become what they now are. Yes; but it was not chance that raised them thus, but the steady,