It is not my purpose to review all the circumstances connected with this dreadful event; but from some of them we may learn, as it were reflected in the water, a lesson in spiritual things.

Fearful was the case of those who perished in that burning ship; but yet a little while, and there will be another conflagration far more dreadful to behold, and eternal in its consequences to all who shall be coneerned in it, for "the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up."

Pitiful indeed was the cry of the poor emigrants as scorched and faint, and paralysed with fear, they dropped into the water and were drowned; but that cry was as the whisper of the zephyr, compared with the shriek of wild despair which shall be uttered by the wicked, the careless, and profane, in that great and terrible day of the Lord! O rocks, fall on us; O mountains, "fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," will be uttered in the madness of fear: for "lo, he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth;" "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all who know not God and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." "Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?" If the emigrants could not for a little moment stand the heat of the fire now coming near them, who shall be able to bear for eternity the flames of hell, where "their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched?"

But I would notice a few particular circumstances which took place. And first,

The conduct of the sailor Jerome, who saved the lives of the fifteen.-With "a little rope" in his hand he swam to the wreck, and climbing the bows, he lowered the still remaining passengers in safety to the boat beneath. That little rope may illustrate to us the

beautiful golden cord let down from heaven to earth— the free mercy of a God of love!

Some years ago a native female on the coast of Africa, who was under scriptural instruction, dreamed a dream during a night of fever. She thought she was falling into an open pit, but was held up by a little rope. The following morning she related the circumstance to a Christian native who came to visit her. "Ah, you see," said he, "dat pit was hell, and your sin was drawing you down, but dat little rope was de mercy of God, which keep you from falling."

And thus the mercy of God keeps us, and thus does Jesus extend it to our souls. He hath "ascended on high... and received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them."

Sitting in the midst of the throne-all power given unto him-He holds one end of that golden cord "within the veil," and lets down the other till it reaches even to the sinner's soul.

Blessed Saviour! in thee "mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Oh, let thy mercy and thy truth sweetly constrain the writer of these pages, and all who read them, to come near unto thee by a lively faith in thy promises. Delivered from the burning wreck of this sinful world, and placed in safety in Christ, "the Ark," which bears us securely over the "troublesome waters" of life, may we feel the truth of thy word: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; there fore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." (Jer. xxxi. 3.)

Again, the life-boat :--

Oh what a welcome sight to the drowning emigrant, when hope had well-nigh fled, was the boat of the Affonso, or Queen of the Ocean, coming to save him!

His heaving bosom almost bursting with dismay, his mouth filled with water, his brain reeling with the scene in which he was engaged, his last cry just uttered, and he about to sink. But the little boat comes bounding over the waves, and a friendly outstretched hand catches at the drowning man and saves him. That boat may illustrate to us the blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, coming "to seek and to save them that were lost."

"In Christ" there is safety for the chief of sinners, (1 Tim. i. 15,) while all "without" must perish.

As Noah and his family of old were saved in the ark when the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, "and every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark," (Gen. vii. 23,) so, "in Christ," there is salvation, safety from the overwhelming torrent of the wrath of God. But there is no salvation in any other, "no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.)

But that life-boat is a feeble illustration of what Jesus, "the sinner's Friend," has done for us. He came, not merely to seek, and to save by seeking, but he suffered to save us-he died to atone for our sins.

Suppose a burning ship near to the domain of a powerful monarch, filled with individuals thus sent adrift because they had rebelled against their king; a decree has gone forth that they cannot be pardoned until an atonement is made for their crimes.

A storm rages at the time, the waves run mountain high, peals of thunder reverberate through the heavens, while the lightning's flash shines from the east unto the west, and the burning ship heaves to and fro, and those on board, in despair and frenzy, drop one by one into the water, and perish.

But lo! a beautiful vessel is seen approaching; her sails are trim, and gracefully she glides through the swollen tide; on her prow is a solitary man, alone he stands-no mortal near him-he is of majestic form, and heavenly mien, and clothed in white and shining raiment. It is the King's Son, come to save the King's rebellious subjects! He speaks to them, in a tone louder than "the voice of many waters," and sweeter than "the voice of harpers harping with their harps."

He says, “Fear not, children, 'tis my Father's good pleasure to save you. I come to do his will. Believe my word, wait upon it, and see the salvation which I bring."

Some believed the King's Son, and with gratitude waited for the event. Others believed him not, and cast themselves into the water, trusting for safety to their skill in swimming, or clinging to the burnt spars which floated on the sea. But another peal of thunder, and a flash of lightning which seems to rend in twain the black cloud which hangs upon the mountain; and another monster wave, rolling with a long and heavy swell, and then bursting in a cataract of foam, it speedily consigns the unbelieving rebels to the ocean's depth below.

But now a smoke is seen to issue from the ship which bears the Son of the King, then a flame bursts out; the ship is on fire, and quickly consumes away. Unmoved and dauntless, the King's Son looks at the flame now close behind him. In sweet accents again he addresses the rebels, "My Father loves and pities you; I have come to save you." At this moment the fire reaches him, and then being scorched, he turns his mild eyes upwards, and Oh, such agony in that look! The fire is now burning him, the blood gushes from every pore through the intensity of suffering, and he calls on his Father, if possible, to save

him; but instantly he calms, and expresses resignation to the Father's will. Again he turns a dying look of love on those he came to save, and a lifeless corpse he falls from the prow and sinks in the opening wave. He has atoned for the crimes of the rebellious subjects; and instantly a number of boats surround their burning ship, and bear them in safety to a friendly shore.

"Is

Such was Jesus; yea, infinitely more did Jesus do for us. O the depth of the love of the Co-equal, Co-eternal Son of God! Well might he say, there any sorrow like unto my sorrow?" "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws." "Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities," he emptied "the cup of trembling," bearing the punishment due to our sins. "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass― nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

He suffered-Oh how he suffered and all for our sakes: "For the transgression of my people was he stricken." In his agony and bloody sweat, in his cross and passion, in his precious death and burial, we may read the exceeding sinfulness of our sins, but also the exceeding greatness of the atonement which has been made.

The holy, harmless, undefiled Son of God "bore the curse to sinners due,"-and when he cried, "Tis finished," and bowed the head, and gave up the ghost on Calvary's cross, He paid the full penalty for sin, he satisfied the perfect justice of God, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers; and now the sinner, saved by grace, "redeemed," not "with corruptible things, as with silver and gold,.. but with the precious blood of Christ," looking upwards to the throne of God, and beholding his Saviour exalted to that throne-"a Lamb as it had been slain "-may say with the inspired apostle, "Who shall lay anything to