Michael the archangel, descending from heaven, opened a chasm into which the waters at once disappeared; and subsequently a church was built near this spot, dedicated to the archangel, in which he received divine honours.

GEN. xliii. 33, "And they sat before him."

848. Egyptian Chairs.-While reclining at meals was the custom of Palestine, chairs appear to have been used from an early period in Egypt, frequent representations of them being found in Egyptian monuments.

Wilkinson tells us, "The house of a wealthy person was always furnished with chairs. Stools and low seats were also used, the seat being only from eight to fourteen inches high, and of wood, or interlaced with thongs: these, however, may be considered equivalent to our rush-bottomed chairs, and probably belonged to persons of humble means; and many of the fauteuils were of the most elegant form; they were made of ebony and other rare woods, inlaid with ivory, and very similar to some now used in Europe. The legs were mostly in imitation of those of an animal; and lions' heads, or the entire body, formed the arms of large fauteuils, as in the throne of Solomon, 1 Kings x. 19. Some, again, had folding legs, like our camp stools."

MARK ix. 49, "For every one shall be salted with fire, and every
sacrifice shall be salted with salt."

849. Salted with Fire.-This is one of the most difficult passages in Mark's Gospel, both the meaning of the terms and the connection with what goes before being doubtful and obscure. Among the various interpretations which have been proposed, one or two points seem to be agreed upon, which may therefore be first stated, as a basis for determining the other questions. It is commonly admitted that the last clause of this verse is an allusion to, if not a direct quotation from, the law of sacrifice in Lev. ii. 13, from the Septuagint version of which it differs only by the change of “gift” to "sacrifice," a term used in the older classics to denote the sacrificial act or service, but in later Greek extended to the sacrificial victims, or the animals admitted to the altar. It is also agreed that there is allusion to the antiseptic and conservative effects of salt, and that these are figuratively transferred to fire. But what fire is

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meant, and in what sense it is conservative, and how the whole verse is related to what goes before and follows, these are questions as to which there is a great diversity of judgment. The different hypotheses entitled to attention may, however, be reduced to two, essentially distinguished by the fact that one of them regards this as a promise, and the other as a threatening or warning. According to the former view, our Lord, referring to the well-known requisition of the law already mentioned, that every sacrificial victim must be salted—that is, rubbed or sprinkled with salt-and also to the universal association between salt and soundness or purity of meats, avails Himself of these associations to assure His hearers that every one whom God approves, or towards whom He has purposes of mercy, though he may pass through the fire of persecution and affliction, including the painful self-denial recommended in the vious context, will be purified and saved thereby; or, as an offering to God, salted with such fire, just as the literal sacrifice was salted at the altar. This is certainly a good sense in itself, and favoured by the strong analogy of the fiery trial which Peter mentions in his First Epistle (iv. 12). The objections to it are, that it gives to fire a sense entirely different from that in the preceding context, and that it does not explain the logical connection indicated by the "for." The other explanation supposes the connection to be this: -Our Lord had six times spoken of eternal torments as unquenchable fire, from which no man could escape without self-denial and the mortification of sin. The immediately preceding verse concludes with the solemn repetition of that fearful saying, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," i. e., their sufferings are endless and unceasing. But how can the subject of such sufferings escape annihilation? By being kept in existence for the very purpose of enduring them. This awful fact he clothes in a figurative form, derived from the sacrificial ritual of Moses. Every victim must be rubbed with salt, the symbol of incorruption and preservation; so these victims shall be salted, not with salt, but fire. The Divine wrath that consumes them will preserve them, i.e., from annihilation-not from suffering, but for suffering. It is no objection to this view of the passage, that it takes salt in a sense not justified by usage, which requires it to mean preservation for a good end, or salvation. This is a mere assumption, just as easy to deny as to affirm. The essential idea of the figure is preservation from destruction, or continued existence, and may just as well be used both in a good and bad sense as leaven (which the

law excluded from all offerings no less strictly than it required salt) is used in both; and just as we might say that the lost sinner will be saved from annihilation, although not from ruin. On the other hand, this interpretation has the advantage of continuing the train of thought unbroken, taking fire in the same sense as throughout the previous context, and concluding this terrific warning in a manner far more appropriate than a promise of salvation by the fire of suffering, however pleasing and delightful in itself.-REV. J. A. ALEXANDER.

MATT. xviii. 19, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."

850. Answer to Prayer.-Some time ago, three Christians fixed by agreement on a merchant of Philadelphia, doing a large business, but who had no interest in Christ, to make him a subject of special prayer. They agreed to meet at the same hour each day to pray for his conversion. Having done so for two or three days, they said to a fourth, a merchant, "We want you to go and talk to that man about his soul." "I will go," he said. He went, found the merchant in his counting-house in the midst of business, and asked him for an interview. It was granted. He told him at once the object of his visit. "I have come to speak to you about Jesus." The man's head fell upon his breast. He was silent. "If you feel that you need a Saviour, I have come to tell you that His salvation is free, and that you may have it if 66 will." you Do you say that ? " he asked. "I repeat it; I have the highest authority for it," said the visitor. "Will you go with me to see my pastor to-night ?" "I will go to-night," he replied. That evening the merchant and his friend came to the minister, the former anxiously inquiring for Jesus, and sitting with the simple earnestness of a little child, begging to know more of the way of life.

EZEK. XXXiii. 31, "With their mouth they show much love, but
their heart goeth after their covetousness."

851. The Covetous Man's Prayers. -About eight years since (says a correspondent of the New York Evangelist of 1833), while obtaining subscriptions for a benevolent purpose, I called upon a gentleman in one of our largest cities, who generously contributed to the object. Before leaving, I said to him, "How much, think you, will such an individual subscribe ?" I don't know," said he;

"but could you hear that man pray, you would think he would give you all he is worth." I called upon him, but to my surprise he would not contribute. As I was about to take my leave of him, I said to him, "As I came to your house, I asked an individual what he thought you would probably give. 'I don't know,' said he; but could you hear that man pray, you would think he would give you all he is worth.'" The man's head dropped, tears gushed from his eyes, he took out his pocket-book, and gave me seventy-five dollars. He could not withstand this argument; his heart relented, and his purse opened.

PSA. cxix. 50, "This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word
bath quickened me."

852. The New Testament a Pillow.-A missionary in New Zealand, while visiting the sick, went to the hut of a poor cripple. He found him with a New Testament lying by his side, and asked if he could read. He replied that he could. He was asked, "How did you learn to read ?" as he had never attended a school. He said, "I used to creep about, and after raking the rubbish thrown out of my neighbours' houses, pick up all the bits of printed paper I could find. Sometimes I got half a leaf of a New Testament, and sometimes a bit of a leaf of the Prayer-Book. These pieces, which I got from time to time, I used to sew together. Then, to learn to read, I pointed to a word, and asked my brother to tell me its meaning. This I often did, till at last I could manage to read a whole verse, and then a chapter. Now I can read any chapter." The missionary then asked, "Do you esteem the word of God?" He replied, in his expressive language, "It is my pillow."-"Youth's Day-spring."

PSA. xix. 7, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." 853. The Blood-stained Leaf of Lucknow.-In the station of in the upper provinces of India, I was one morning visiting the hospital as usual. As I entered the general hospital, I was told by one of the men, that a young man of the regiment was anxious to speak to me. In the inner ward I found, lying on the chorepoy in a corner, a new face, and, walking up to him, said, "I am told you wish to see me; I do not recollect having seen you before." No," said he, "I have never seen you before, yet you seem no stranger, for I have often heard speak of you." I asked

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him if he was ill or wounded. "I am ill," he replied. He went on to say, that he had just come down from Cawnpore, after having been present at the relief of Lucknow. Perhaps you would like me to tell you my history," he added. It may be you remember, a long time since, some of our men going into the hospital opposite, as you sat reading to one of the Highlanders. There were some half-dozen or more of them; they came to see a sick comrade. You went up presently to them, and told them how grateful you and all your country people were to the noble soldiers for so readily coming to protect you all, and how deeply you sympathized with them in the noble cause in which they were now going to take a share. Then you talked to them of the danger which would attend them. You reminded them that life is a battle-field to all, and asked them if they were soldiers of Christ, and if they had thought of the probability of their falling in battle. I have heard all about that long talk you had with the men. Then you gave your Bible to one, and asked him to read a passage. He chose the 23rd Psalm, and you prayed. They asked you for a book or a tract, to remind them of what had been said, and you gave them all you had in your bag. But for one man there was none. They were to start that afternoon, so that you had not time to get one. But you went to the apothecary, and got pen and paper from him. When you came back, you gave this paper to him, telling him you should look for him in heaven." The poor fellow pulled out, from the breast of his shirt, half a sheet of note-paper, on which I recognised my own handwriting, though scarcely legible from wear. On it were written the 1st, 7th, 10th, 14th, 15th, and 17th verses of the 5th chapter of 2nd Corinthians, and the whole of that hymn beginning

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds."

"That man," he continued, "and I were in the same company, but he was a day ahead of me. We met in Cawnpore, then marched on with the rest to Lucknow. Whenever we halted, the first thing he did was to take out his paper, and read it aloud to those who cared to hear; then he prayed with us. As we marched, he spoke much of his old father and mother, and only brother, and wished he could see them once more. But he was very, very happy, and ready to go home,' if God saw fit. I am an orphan. I lost my parents when a child, and was brought up at school. I never had one to love me, and life was indeed a weary burden; yet, beyond, all was darker still, for I knew nothing of a Saviour. But his