afternoon a great number of the village people were assembled in the large room of the inn. There was only one door to the room, and that stood open. The village blacksmith-a good-natured, pious, brave-hearted man-sat near the door, talking pleasantly with some of his neighbours in the room. All at once a large dog came and stood right in the doorway. He was a great, powerful beast, with fierce, frightful look. His head hung down, his eyes were bloodshot, his great red tongue hung half out of his mouth, and his tail was dropped between bis legs. As soon as the keeper of the inn saw him, he turned pale, and exclaimed, "Back! back! The dog is mad!" Then the women screamed, and there was great confusion in the room. There was no way out but by the door in which the dog stood, and no one could pass him without being bitten. "Stand back, my friends," cried the brave smith, "till I seize the dog; then hurry out while I hold him. Better for one to perish than for all." As he said this, he seized the foaming beast with an iron grasp, and dashed him on the floor. Then a terrible struggle followed. The dog bit furiously on every side in a most frightful manner. His long teeth tore the arms and thighs of the heroic smith, but he would not let go his hold. Unmindful of the great pain it caused, and the horrible death which he knew must follow, with the grasp of a giant he held down the snapping, biting, howling brute, till all his friends had escaped in safety. Then he flung the half-strangled beast from him against the wall, and dripping with blood and venomous foam, he left the room and locked the door. The dog was shot; but what was to become of the brave but unfortunate smith? The friends whose lives he had saved at the expense of his own stood round him weeping. "Be quiet, my friends," he said; 66 don't weep for me; I've only done my duty. When I am dead, think of me with love; and now pray for me that God will not let me suffer long, or too much. I know I shall become mad, but I will take care that no harm comes to you through me." Then he went to his shop. He took a strong chain. One end of it he riveted with his own hands round his body, the other end he fastened round the anvil so strongly that no earthly power could loose it. Then he looked round on his friends, and said,— "Now it's done. You are all safe. I can't hurt you. Bring me food while I am well, and keep out of my reach when I am mad. The rest I leave with God." Nothing could save the brave smith. Soon madness seized him, and after nine days he died. What a noble fellow! What a real hero that was! He was willing to endure all this for the sake of securing blessings for his friends. But noble as was the conduct of this man, it was surpassed by the conduct of Jesus. The man died to save fellow-sinners, his friends : Jesus, who was pure and sinless, died to save his enemies. 1 THESS. V. 13, "Esteem them very highly in love for their 885. Honouring Christ in His Servants.-As Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, the late Duke of Wellington always made a point of receiving and entertaining the Judges when they arrived in the county on circuit. He felt that the Judges represented the Sovereign, and no claim of society, no call even of duty, was strong enough to hinder him from paying the same marks of respect which his loyalty would have induced him to pay to the Sovereign had she been personally present, EXOD. XX. 12, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 886. Filial Affection and its Reward.-There was an honest tradesman who lived and kept a shop in a small town in France, some distance from Paris. He had a large family; and, by patient industry and attention to business, he had managed to maintain them comfortably, and earn for himself a good reputation. But at last, owing to the unexpected loss of a large sum of money, he was unable to pay what he owed to the merchants in Paris, from whom he bought his goods. He went to see his creditors. He told them frankly how he was situated, and begged them to allow him a longer time, and let him have some more goods to carry on his business with, and he would pay them as soon as he could. They believed he was honest, and consented to do so, all except one man. This was the person to whom he owed the most. His wealth was very great, but his heart was very hard. He said, "No, sir; you are going to fail, and I'll make you pay me at once." An officer was sent immediately to arrest the poor man, and put him in jail. From his cell, in the prison, he wrote home to his wife and family, telling them of his situation. This threw them into great distress. At first they knew not what to do. After talking the matter over a good while, the eldest son of the family, a fine young man, resolved to go to Paris and see this cruel creditor, and try to persuade him to release his father from prison. He arrived at the house of the merchant, sent in his name, and asked permission to see him. The proud, money-loving man thought, of course, the son had come to pay his father's debts. He admitted him into his presence; but as soon as he found out the object of the young man's visit, he flew into a violent passion, and declared he would either have the money or the bones of his father. On hearing this, the young man fell down on his knees, and with uplifted hands, and tears rolling down his cheeks, he addressed the merchant in this manner : 66 'Sir," said he, "if I go home without my father, I shall see my poor mother die with a broken heart. The credit of my father's shop will be utterly ruined; and we, his children, will be turned out as beggars and vagabonds into the open street. I have this one, the last request to make,-let me be sent to jail instead of my father, and keep me there till all that he owes you is paid!" The merchant walked up and down the room in great agitation. The young man continued his cries and entreaties. At last, quite overcome by the affection and devotion of the noble-minded youth, he took him kindly by the hand, and told him to rise. He then gave him an order for the release of his father. Soon after he took the young man into business with him, gave him his only daughter in marriage, and finally left him the heir of all his property. JOHN vii. 24, "Judge not according to the appearance." 887. False Appearances.-If you go into a churchyard some snowy day, when the snow has been falling thick enough to cover every monument and tombstone, how beautiful and white does everything appear! But remove the snow, dig down beneath, and you find rottenness and putrefaction, "dead men's bones, and all uncleanness." How like that churchyard on such a day is the mere professor-fair outside; sinful, unholy within! The grass grows green upon the sides of a mountain that holds a volcano in its bowels.-REV. DR. GUTHRIE. THE LENTIL. GEN. xxv. 34, "Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright." 888. Lentils.-A species of pulse somewhat like the pea in its general appearance, and still used as an article of food in the East. From this vegetable was made the red pottage for which Esau sold his birthright. Dr. Kitto states that he "has often partaken of this selfsame red pottage' (made by seething lentils in water, and then adding a little suet, to give them a flavour), and found it a much better food than a stranger would be apt to imagine. The mess had the redness which gained for it the name of 'adom,' and which, through the singular circumstance of a son selling his birthright to satisfy the cravings of a pressing appetite, it imparted to the posterity of Esau in the people of Edom. The stem of the lentil is branched, and the leaves consist of about eight pairs of leaflets. The flowers are small, and in the upper division of the flower prettily veined. The pods contain about two seeds, which vary from a tawny red to a black. It delights in a dry, warm, sandy soil. Three varieties are cultivated in France,-small brown, yellowish, and the lentil of Provence. In the former country they are dressed and eaten during Lent as a haricot. In Syria they are used as food after they have undergone the simple process of being parched in a pan over the fire." Dr. Robinson mentions that, in travelling from Mount Sinai to Jerusalem, he purchased at Akaba a supply of lentils, or small beans, which are common in Egypt and Syria under the name of adas (in Hebrew adash), the same from which the pottage was made for which Esau sold his birthright. We found them,” he adds, “very palatable, and could well conceive that, to a weary hunter faint with hunger, they might be quite a dainty." 66 EXOD. vii. 13," And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened 889. God Hardening Pharaoh's Heart.-This passage, with others which intimate the same fact, will lose much, if not all their perplexing character if calmly looked at in the light of recognized truths. God" hardened Pharaoh's heart" in two ways, neither of which reflects in the least upon His unerring justice :-by convincing displays of divine power; and by the repeated withdrawal of inflicted judgments. As to the first, nothing is more painfully evident than the fact that, in cases of determined obstinacy or unbelief, conclusive evidence only awakens a more dogged opposition. The priests, after the raising of Lazarus (John xii. 10), and the Jewish rulers, after the cure of the lame man (Acts iv. 16), are prominent instances of this tendency of the rebellious heart. Pharaoh had asked, with the supercilious contempt of an idolater and half-deified monarch, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice?" (Exod. v. 2.) The answer given by the miracle of Aaron's rod was, "He is the Supreme Ruler, to whom you, therefore, owe allegiance." This reply, though incontrovertible, instead of humbling the tyrant, only provoked further opposition; and "Pharaoh's heart was hardened." God's mercy, like His miracles, had a similar effect. Smitten by the hand of Omnipotence, Pharaoh cries for a remission of the calamity; his heart is softened; he relents; he declares, "I will yield, I will let you go; only let the stroke be removed." His |