the Saviour replied: "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Showing him, at the same time, the folly of contending with Omnipotence. Saul arose an altered man humbled, dejected, covered with remorse and shame. Led by the hand like a little child, he entered the city into which he had hoped to ride with triumph. The narrative of his bewilderment and affliction, of his interview with Ananias, and of his introduction to the gospel ministry, is well known. Such terror had his previous conduct excited, that for some time many Christians regarded him somewhat as the chased lamb looks upon a snared lion. But this feeling gradually wore away; for "straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God."

And now the mental powers which Saul had exerted against the church were modified by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and employed in its defence. It is no wonder that the loss of him filled the Jews with rage and dismay; that they marked him out as the object of their keenest revenge, and watched day and night to kill him. Many imagine, that the "rest" of the church, which followed his conversion, was complete exemption from persecution. It is not so. The Sanhedrim well knew that once engaged in any cause Saul was its life. Hence they passed the great body of believers only that its whole force might be concentrated against Paul. For this they watched the gates of Damascus, when he escaped only by being let down from the wall in a basket by night; and afterwards, whenever he appeared among the Jews, he was sure of being waylaid, maltreated, or dragged before some iniquitous tribunal.

Saul, or as he was afterwards called, Paul, was the instrument prepared by God for giving the gospel to the Gentiles. None of the other apostles were so eminently fitted for that mission. His travels, labors, and sufferings, might furnish matter for a thrilling narrative, and are passed over by historians and biographers, only because in

the heart of man there ever lingers a strange doubt concerning the value of Holy Writ, or a latent suspicion of its authenticity. Sometimes, he was dragged before the Jewish tribunals, and accused of capital crimes. Sometimes, he was assaulted and beaten in the streets; at others, hurried out by the rage of tumultuous crowds, and stoned in the fields. Now we see him pleading with thrilling eloquence before Agrippa, shaming the slippery Tertullus, and with the independence of conscious rectitude appealing from his enemies to Cæsar; and again he is thrown into the dungeon of a Macedonian prison and his feet made fast in the stocks. "Of the Jews," he says, "five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day · have I been in the deep. In journeyings often; in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

But Paul was guarded by a power stronger than that of his persecutors. Year after year he beheld their efforts and combinations baffled, while he grew stronger in the cause of his adoption. He lived to see that cause spread from India to the Atlantic, from Abyssinia to the Danube. He lived to appear before Nero, and to plant a Christian church beside the Pantheon. He lived to visit Spain, and to assemble a congregation near the pillars of Hercules. His epistles are more

numerous than those of the other apostles.

The care of all the

churches was upon him. When he returned to Rome for the last time, the Christian religion was established in every country of the Roman empire, and flourishing churches had been erected in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. Over most of them he seems to have had

a general superintendence, and his epistles show with what care he exercised it to prevent the intrusion of error, or the equally dangerous tendency to lukewarmness and self-righteousness. He suffered martyrdom at Rome, A. D. 66.

THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS.

JEREMIAH ii. 13.

BY THE REV. JOHN ALEXANDER.

AROUND thy throne, in peaceful streams,
O God! celestial pleasure glides;
The brightened wave thine image beams,
Untinged by sorrow's darkened tides.

That stream my fainting spirit cheers,
When sultry suns pour down their heat;

And when I cross the vale of tears,

It makes the cup of sorrow sweet.

To Thee, the fountain-head, I rise,

No joy below Thee soothes my mind;

My spring of bliss is in the skies,

My heaven in Thee alone I find.

D. S., JR.

SENDING FORTH THE APOSTLES.

"These Twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying:"

Go forth and preach the dawning of that light
By prophets long foreseen, and hailed by John
In holy vision, near the Jordan's banks.
Seek not the halls of wealth, nor lordly domes,
Where pride and power reign, nor yet the lands
Of Gentile darkness, or Samarian sway.
But where the scattered sons of Israel pine
Despised, enslaved, though of their ancient joy
All fondly dreaming, and of one to come
In David's martial pomp- there cry aloud,
The kingdom is at hand! Bid them no more
Trust in an arm of flesh, for Judah's might
Is for ever broke; from her palace walks
The sceptre hath departed, and the shout
Of prince or mighty man will never sound
In Gihon's vale again, calling her chiefs
To battle with the nations. Tell of Ilim
Who comes not to destroy, whose reign shall be
In righteousness and peace-the reign of love
Foretold by Daniel, that will never end.

And, to confirm the Word, receive all power
O'er men or devils. By the voice of faith

Restore the palsied frame, the leper's skin
Renew in freshness; from the maniac wretch,
Led by Satanic power mid wilds and tombs,
Drive evil influence forth; or but command,
In heaven's name, the ghastly corpse to rise,
And it shall leap and live. Fear not the wrath
Of king or council. Lo! I send you forth

As sheep mid ravening beasts; be harmless, wise,
And patient 'neath oppression. Happy they
Who hear your tidings glad, and willingly
Obey the voice of truth; but heavier far-
Far more intolerable than Sodom's fate,
Will be that city's doom, which cold receives
The call of mercy, and insults heaven's King
In person of his servants. Mid all toils

Of thirst or weariness, mid sorrow, pain,
Or danger from the wrath of wicked men,
When beaten, vilified, or bound in chains,
Be this the source of comfort and of hope,
That I am with you, even to the end.