when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

"I said in the cutting off of my days, 1 shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

"I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

"Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night will thou make an end of me.

"I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

"Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed;

undertake for me.

"What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

O Lord, by these things men live, and in all

these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

"For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

"The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

"The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." Isa. xxxviii.

THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK.

The prayer of Habakkuk has ever been regarded as one of the most lofty strains of Hebrew poetry. The passage commencing, "God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran," is, next to the descent on Sinai, the most awe-inspiring representation of the majesty, and power, and glory of the Deity in Holy Writ.

“O, Lord, I have heard thy speech; and was afraid: 0 Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known in wrath remember mercy.

"God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

"And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

"Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

"He stood and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting.

"I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did

tremble.

"Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?

to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

"The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.

"The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

"Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

"Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

“Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

"When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I

might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

"The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."

We find the following anecdote of the influence of this wonderful prayer on a company of French atheists:

During Dr. Franklin's residence in Paris, after an evening entertainment, a number of the literati

present assented to the general charge against the Bible as being a piece of deception, and destitute of any literary merit. While the whole party assented, it was observed that the doctor gave no answer, and they appealed to him for