happy Gantoor is reading the words of Jesus to the halt and withered. They have gained their point above sixty assembled in the room provided by Mr. Mott, "Indeed it was the blind who led, and in many instances carried, these impotent folk to the school to hear the sweet words about Jesus. On one occasion above sixty of these outcasts were collected, one being carried a distance of six miles. Here the 'old, old, story' of Jesus healing the lame, the halt, and the sinner was read to them; and, when they were told the service was over, and it was time to go, they set up one piteous cry, 'Dachelih, dachelih-let us stay-to hear more sweet words.' 'Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.' And thus the cripples' school is now formed and nursed by the kind originator of the blind school, who will, however, rejoice if fellow-Christians in England will share with him in its support." In truth, he has drawn up a petition for aid to purchase at a moderate sum some very suitable premises closely adjoining his own property, which the owner will sell in preference to an English family.

S. H. S.

the orbs of heaven, after shining from time immemorial, have totally disappeared; so that an event so awful would not be an entirely new thing in the universe. Think, then, how dependent we are on the sovereign will of God, and how entirely we are at his disposal, with this our commodious habitation. What gratitude and love should every rational being evince to the great Preserver and Benefactor! what concern to know and do his will, and to secure his favour! And what serious mind, having right views of the holiness of God, but must be astonished at his forbearance and bounty toward a race of creatures, who for the most part seem to live only to rebel against him, to abuse his mercies, and to try his patience! O how is our globe stained all around its surface with innumerable and abominable crimes, from age to age, and from hour to hour! And it is equally distressing to know that the very religions of hundreds of millions is nothing else but the grossest insult to the one only living and true God.

It is evident that this globe was designed to be the dwelling-place of creatures endowed with sense and intellect. Thus holy writ informs us that God created it not in vain-that he formed it to be inhabited-that he gave it to the children of men. "We are the creatures of his hand, and the sheep of his pasture"; accommodated with everything necessary to our We have also the highest advantages for contemporary sojourn, by his providential bounty. templation and improvement, from the view of word of truth given to teach us how to turn the creation, the discoveries of science, and the holy whole to the most important benefit, and to

make us wise to salvation.

THE SUSPENDED GLOBE*. ALTHOUGH the labours of modern astronomers have given us with great exactness the motion of the earth, and its relation to the other parts of the solar system, they have not contradicted but confirmed the words of the early patriarch. It is true: God "hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job xxvi. 7). It has undergone great changes, and will yet undergo them; but as long as it endures it hangs upon nothing. All the innumerable host of heavenly bodies, too, have no What a powerful though silent proclamation prop to sustain them, any more than our globe have we here before us, that there is one great has a basis on which it rests: each may be com- First Cause, to whom the existence and preser pared to a ball hung in the air, without a line vation of all creation is owing! How irrational to uphold it from falling, or any substance be- and blasphemous is atheism! How low must neath to bear it all are in a state of suspension. that mind be sunk which can entertain the noThe same Almighty Power, which gave exist- tion that there is no God! To suppose that ence to all worlds, keeps them in their several ours and other worlds are self-existent and selfEffects spheres, in their order, and in their harmony. moving is the grossest absurdity. What demonstrative eviIt may be well to reflect upon that perfection demonstrate causes. of God to which the preservation of our world dence then is here! It has been well reis owing. How should that power be acknow-marked, "Either there is a God, or there is ledged and adored! How much concerned nothing." That God is is the first of all truths. should we be to avoid provoking it, and to secure its friendly regard! It can accomplish anything consistent with the holy will and glory of God. It can destroy as well as save; and often on our globe has that power raised fearful monuments of his displeasure against the sins of men. That power could at his pleasure disorganize our world, break it up, tear it to pieces, and scatter it in fragments in the illimitable space. Or, if God saw fit, he could cast it beyond the range of those influences which keep it in its place. What, then, would become of it ?-whither would it go?-into what fathomless abyss of destruction would it fall with its millions of inhabitants? The very thought of such an event is appalling. The observations of astronomers testify that several of *Extracted from a tract under that title.

This earthly globe is not eternal. There was a period when it was created out of nothing. Like everything else, created and material, when it shall have fulfilled the will of its Creator, it will be dissolved. Such is the divine decree. Such is the declaration of divine truth. No signs of such an event at present appear; but he who formed it has told us that it shall be even so. It is well known that it contains within itself materials in preparation quite sufficient for its destruction. It is contingent on the sovereign will of God. Immortal man should then make little account of so perishing a portion; and be on the inquiry for a perma nent residence. Happy are they who are the subjects of a new and spiritual creation, a work of God the Holy Spirit in the soul; whose inheritance remains untouched; and who can

show that for the glorified body and the ransomed spirit there is an habitation exceeding all that we can desire or deserve; there are joys which fade not away, pleasures at God's right hand for evermore. The river is pure and clean, denoting the holy character of those pleasures which it is the will of God to bestow, and the unclouded knowledge of heavenly things, of the glorious perfections and attributes of the Godhead which it is the privilege of his people to enjoy ; not as here, where they see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. The tree of life and the leaves of the same, are all significant of the blessings of Christ's redemption, participated in without alloy by all the inhabitants of that blessed world, as they stand before the throne, in the sunshine of his favour; for the glory of God does lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

you

you see the youth, rejoicing in the prospect
of a long life, arrested in his career by the
attacks of a fever; and the burning brow
and the parched tongue, and the wasting
frame, too plainly tell the near approach of
death: you go to the abodes of squalid
misery, in the crowded population, the
haunts of degradation and crime
behold the iron-grated prison with its un-
happy inmates, or the hospital filled with
the suffering and sick; and what are all these
but evidences of the curse originally pro-
nounced upon the earth, tokens of physical
and moral evil? Again, on some sunny day,
two companions have gone forth to admire
the extent and variety of the landscape, and
the brilliant orb which God has set in the
heavens pours forth his beams of incessant
radiance: everything seems calm and se-
rene: not a ruffle is heard, not a leaf is
seen to move; and yet, in a very brief
period, the dark masses of clouds are
quickly gathering, the rolling thunder is
heard, the lightning's vivid flash is seen,
and one beholds his fellow-creature stricken
to the earth, and the pulse of life has
ceased to beat. Or, the same causes, which
are at work in the region of the atmosphere,
are also operating beneath the surface of
the globe; and those internal fires which
smoulder there burst their bounds: moun-

buried in the yawning chasm. Terrible manifestations of the divine displeasure on account of sin! No doubt that God has wise purposes in all that he does; yet these occurrences are all marks of the curse at first pronounced upon the earth. But, further, what mean those hosts of armed men set together in battle-array, with fatal purpose, ready to join in the fierce encounter, prepared at a single moment to take away the life of their fellow men, to spread devastation and misery in their path? What does war tell us, but that this is an evil world in which we live? for, in that better state, "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' And scripture tells us that not only man, but the lower orders of creation, suffer under the primeval penalty of sin;

I. "And there shall be no more curse." The curse came in consequence of sin, the punishment of God's broken law-a curse which was pronounced, not only on the serpent, the vile tempter of our first parents in Eden, but also on the earth upon which they were placed. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: intains sink and heave: whole multitudes are the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." But, my brethren, are not the evidences of the curse too plain to be mistaken? These evidences are the existence and prevalence of physical and moral evil. Some are accustomed to speak of the world as everything that is good and beautiful. Captivated with the works of nature, the varied splendours of science and art, they look not at what lies beneath, which plainly tells us of the prevalence of evil. Far be it from us to deny that there are many objects on which the eye can innocently gaze, many things to gratify the taste and please the fancy, yea, a thousand instrumentalities which in the good providence of God minister to the temporal necessities of men; and it is right, and in accordance with the principles of Christianity, to be contented with our portion in this world, so long as we are permitted to continue here; but are there no symptoms of the curse, are there no marks of God's displeasure, from which the heavenly world shall be altogether free? You hear the infant in its mother's arms sending forth the cry of pain as it appeals for the relief of wants which it cannot express:

66

for we know," says the apostle, "that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. But in that celestial world into which the just are admitted-the saved and glorified members of Christ's body-none of those evils of which we have spoken shall have any

How

place. "For there shall be no more death, | voice: "Salvation to our God which sitteth neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall on the throne, and to the Lamb." there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Sin cannot enter there: the curse being done away, the consequences cannot prevail; for these exist only in the regions of never-ending despair, where the wicked and unbelieving suffer with Satan and his angels, condemned to everlasting misery, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

II. "But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." All the enemies of the Redeemer have now been put down, every opposition to his government has ceased, every effort to overthrow his kingdom has been rendered unavailing. Now the end has come, when Jesus "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." During many thousands of years has Satan endeavoured to establish his reign of darkness and error: ever since the fall of man, through successive ages, the god of this world has been blinding the minds of men; but the hour has arrived when his final overthrow takes place, when he can no longer disturb the peace and vex the minds of the people of God, when he is permitted no more to deceive the nations of the earth, but has been cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night for ever.

The throne of God and of the Lamb." The saints are still reminded of redemption. Their song shall still be: "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." True, the dispensation of the gospel shall have terminated, the mediatorial work of Christ shall have ceased; for, sin being done away, there shall be no more need of pardon and intercession: the day of grace, as such, shall have passed away; yet, while God shall be "all in all," it is God in Christ"the throne of God and of the Lamb." Around that throne are assembled the myriads of unfallen angels, the cherubim and seraphim, spirits of light and purity, who have never disobeyed the high behests of their Creator, whose pleasure and delight it has ever been to do the will of God and to minister to his servants; and also in the presence of the triune Jehovah are countless multitudes of all nations, kindreds, and tongues, clothed with white robes, and having palms in their hands, crying with a loud

can they forget the mercies and blessings of which when on earth they were unworthy partakers? Can they think of what Christ has done for them, and for a moment remain silent in that sinless world, the inhe ritance purchased for them by his precious blood? Not like the captive Jews, who sat down and wept by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion, and, when their scornful enemies asked of them a song, exclaimed, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" It shall not be so in that state of blessedness into which Christ's believing followers are admitted in the new heavens and the new earth. Freed from that body of sin and death which has been so great a hindrance in this world of sin and temptation, with a spiritual body fashioned like unto the glorious body of their Redeemer, it shall be their privilege and rejoicing to glorify him through ages that shall never end.

III. "And his servants shall serve him." We are called upon to give him our whole hearts, our souls and bodies to be a rea sonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto him; but how far short our service comes in this world we may learn from his own words: "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are un profitable servants, we have done what was but our duty to do." Because sin attaches to the works of the holiest of God's children, sin is mingled with their purest desires, their most devout aspirations, their most heartfelt prayers: in the worship which they offer to God, whether in the public services of his house, or the more retired devotion of home, they are never free from their spiritual adversaries: Satan is always at hand to tempt and to harass them. But in that bright world into which are admitted the victorious soldiers of the Son of God, there are no obstacles, no impediments, to their full and complete happiness; for there shall be no more curse, "there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomi nation, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." They shall serve him with alacrity, with earnestness, and a perfect willingness be coming that eternal kingdom of which they are made partakers through the infinite merits of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

But, again, the knowledge of Christians on earth is imperfect: there are mysteries in that holy religion which they profess which their weak and finite faculties cannot fully com prehend; but surely we may conclude that

this imperfection, being the consequence of sin, shall cease, as the apostle reasons: "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am

known." The Sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man, how to reconcile these truths, the great and fundamental docrine of the Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity, which, while we believe, we cannot fully comprehend-these, we have no doubt, shall be more clearly revealed in the light of that eternal glory which shines around the throne of God upon those who, through the grace of Christ and the Spirit's power, shall participate in that unspeakable felicity. "He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see."

But to draw these observations to a close. The text speaks in simple but expressive language of the future happiness of Christ's believing people, and makes the inquiry of each one of us: Are we in that path which leads to everlasting life? "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Have we been delivered from the dominion of sin and become the servants of righteousness, having our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life? It will not avail any to call the Redeemer, Lord! Lord! and do not the things which he says. This is to resemble the man who built his house upon the sand, unable to resist the storms and tempests that beat upon it. Rather let us pursue the wiser course of him who digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock, and then we shall be best able to bear the rude blasts of the world and the assaults of Satan. From the spiritual conflict in which engaged there is no rest until we have run our race and finished our course, and through grace entered into the joy of

we are

our Lord.

JEWISH MISCELLANIES.

No. CXX.

the knowledge of one single supreme God, or ponder over the high-toned prophecies, not less striking in their poetic beauty than in their confident announcements of a greater time to moral tone, or listen to their own repeated and come, and then believe that all this really meant nothing? Observe that from age to age the prophets never falter. In the deepest depression their hope burns most brightly. Daniel in the den of lions is not more confident of his safety than as a captive of the furious Nebuchadnezzar he is confident of the overthrow of

the kingdoms of this world by the stone cut out without hands.' Isaiah is not more bold in his prediction of the destruction of Sennacherib and his host than in that of the reign of Messiah over Jew and Gentile. And, when the Romans destroyed the temple of Jerusalem, did this marvellous book, and all that it contains, fade away like 'the baseless fabric of a vision'? Was ever such a phenomenon witnessed as this persistent harmonious utterance for a thousand hand, what if, in the interval between the closyears of futile expectations? On the other ing of the Old Testament and the destruction of Jerusalem, One appeared in whom centred every line of history and of prophecy; what if such an One led a life, as man, in which the most daring gainsayer cannot suggest a flaw; what if he also claimed to come as fulfilling the older revelation, and himself foretold the downfall of the earthly Jerusalem, since the purpose of its separation from the world had been accomplished? what if he, in fact, commenced, by the foundation of the Christian church, a new kingdom in which the promised King should reign, 'to whom it was a light thing that the Jews should be saved,' since to him 'all the One rose from the grave, after having to the Gentiles also were to be given;' what if such an letter accomplished, both in life and death, all that prophecy had foretold of his earthly career, and then sent down the long-promised gift of the Holy Spirit, the inward Teacher of the heart, the Builder of that spiritual temple which was to supersede the material edifice on Mount Moriah; and what if such temple (though, alas! too slowly and imperfectly) is gradually rising and glory of the triune Jehovah ? Surely this throughout the civilized world, to the honour continuity of events establishes that the written word has its outward counterpart, that the Old Testament is but the germ of the New, and the one is connected to the other as indissolubly as the word of God made flesh is for ever united to the nature of regenerated man" ("The Continuity of Scripture as declared by the Testimony of our Lord and of the Evangelists and

"I will cleanse them from all their iniquity."-JER. Apostles;" by William Page Wood, vice

Xxxiii. 8.

ISRAEL AND THE MESSIAH.-" Again, consider all this marked history relating to one small nation, inhabiting one small portion of the globe. Whence arises its deep interest to us-to all the civilized nations of the earth? Can any one read the narrative of the various events by which one people was eliminated from the varied races of mankind, or observe how this people (few comparatively in number) alone retained

chancellor (now lord-chancellor), 1868).

JESUS'S LOVE FOR ISRAEL A MODEL FOR CHRISTIANS.-"The most common argument that you will hear advanced against the truth of God, as it is made manifest in Jesus, will be the comparatively small number of the children of Israel who have owned the crucified One as the true Messiah, 'our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. Why, to my mind, the fact is the strongest argument in favour of the claims of Jesus to be Israel's Saviour-King. Not only