-the fiends of passion, which flitted now and then over their path, or shook the forest-trees with the loud rustling of their pinions.

The calmness returned, and the sunshine-and I looked towards the Temple of Happiness. There was no longer the busy and countless crowd, which had first engaged my attention. One or two solitary beings were ascending the steps, and entering the portico. They held their lamps still burning-and, as they advanced towards the altar, methought their forms became angelized-a glory, brighter than the brightest sunbeams, burst from the temple-my eyes were dazzled, and I walked away, in deep meditation, to rejoice—and to

mourn.

"THY KINGDOM COME."

HASTEN, LORD, the promised hour,
Come in glory, and in power;

Still thy foes are unsubdued,

Nature sighs to be renewed.

Time has nearly reached its sum,

All things with thy Bride, say, Come!

Jesus, whom all worlds adore,

Come, and reign for evermore.

J. C.

JESUS PREACHING BY THE SEA-SIDE.

THE day was lingering still on Jordan's plain,
And painting with wild hues the waving palms,
And balmy groves, of Galilee. Gennesaret
Shone like a polished mirror, with a flood

Of glory not its own; while, crowned with fire,
The peaks of Lebanon, glittering high in air
All radiant, appeared the abode of those

Too beautiful for earth. Nature seemed hushed,
That man might praise his God.

Yet in that hour

The plain was animate with hurrying crowds-
Manhood with aspect stern, and tottering age:
The blooming maiden, and half frightened child,
Gathering from plain, and hill, and town, and dell,
Came thronging on, to join the multitudes
Collected on the shores of that still lake;
Portents, unheard of, drew them. Ere the sun
Had risen that morn, above the eastern clouds,
A stranger, journeying from the Jordan's vale,
Had preached the coming of Messiah's reign,
And claimed Messiah's mission. At his glance
Disease and sorrow fled; the leper felt

A thrill of health course through his parchéd veins;

The palsied wretch, whose night was passed in pain,
His day in tears, aroused to blissful life;

And he, condemned to drag the maniac's chain,
Was blest again with reason. This was Ile,

Who, walking now beside the calm, blue lake,
Drew all men unto him.

With awe some gazed,

Others with love, all with astonishment.
But when upon a vessel's prow he stood,

Preparing to declare the Word of Life,

All sounds were hushed; the mass became more dense,

And men seemed scarce to breath.

His voice was mild;

Its tones of love, mingling in cadence sweet,
Charmed like the breeze of night. In parable
He told of the good seed which few mature

To rich and holy fruitage; of the field
Where ministers of darkness scatter thorns
Among the sprouting grain; of treasures

Richer than those for which earth's laborers toil,
Yet freely given to all; and one great pearl
Surpassing all the gems of Araby,

Or opal drawn from India's burning sands,
To sparkle where men gazing on it, tremble.
Then pointing to the nets, which dripping hung
Along the shelving rocks, he sunk his voice
To solemn depth, and spake of that Great Day
When seraph bands should stop the march of Time.
And rousing from its sleep the world of Death,
Should separate the wicked from the just

Even as the fisher searching through his net

For good or worthless prey

-assigning each

His everlasting place. Sermon like this

That audience never heard. Wondering each stood, Held by mysterious power, till through the mass,

From heart to heart, awe and conviction stole,

And thousands worshipped the incarnate God.

COLLECT.

D. S.

MERCIFUL God, who hast all men created,
By whom no creature of thy hand is hated;

To whom the sinner's fate no joy can give:
Thou wouldst that he should turn to Thee and live.

Have pity upon those who live in vain

Pagan, apostate, heretic, profane.

Scatter their ignorance, their pride subdue,

Convince the infidel, convert the Jew;

Teach those to pray who once thy grace could mock,

And so bring home these wanderers to thy flock,

That they may be with thine elect enrolled
Under one Shepherd, Christ the Lord, one fold;
Who with the Father and the Spirit one,
Reigns evermore.-So let thy will be done.

J. C.

WHAT WOMAN OWES TO THE BIBLE.

BY MRS. BALFOUR.

A THOUGHTFUL reader of general history, who is in the habit of comparing and contrasting it with sacred history, cannot fail to be surprised at the very different estimate given of woman by the inspired historians, compared with that presented of her in various secular records of the nations of the earth; and, consequently, the very superior position assigned to her in the sacred page. The Bible, in remarkable contrast to all other ancient writings, distinctly recognizes woman's moral responsibility, her high mental capability, the important personal and relative duties resulting therefrom, and her perfect equality, with man, of spiritual privileges and eternal destiny. The more polished nations of antiquity, on the contrary, seem invariably to have formed a low estimate of the female character, and to have made their laws, and regulated their social institutions, in conformity to that low estimate. A despotism at once suspicious, capricious, and degrading was established, that rendered woman an abject slave, dependent on the will of her master. In some few instances, natural affection so far triumphed over cruelty, that she met with indulgence and consideration; but, even at the best, her condition among the heathen nations, of ancient and modern times, could only be that of a favored slave, indebted to the relentings of tenderness, in a few isolated instances, for that respect and kindness which, to have been really valuable to her, ought to have depended upon the immutable principles of justice, and not on the caprices of man.