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Truth. They had heard that Israel in the wilderness described their land as flowing with milk and honey;* and the tradition consequently ran, that for eleven days the Nile had flowed with honey in the reign of Nephercheres. † They had heard of Balaam's ass rebuking the madness of the prophet; and they gravely chronicled the story of a speaking lamb in the days of Bocchoris the Saite. ‡ They had heard of Samson and his feats of strength; and the Greeks referred these acts of prowess to Hercules. "When he arrived in Egypt," say they, "the inhabitants bound him with the sacred fillet, and the usual ornaments of a victim, and made preparations to sacrifice him to Jupiter. For awhile he restrained himself, but upon his being conducted with the usual solemnities to the altar, he exerted his strength and put all his enemies to death."§ This account forcibly recals the splendid lines of Milton:

-Immediately

Was Samson as a public servant brought
In their state livery clad; before him pipes,
And timbrels; on each side went armed guards,
Both horse and foot; before him, and behind
Archers and slingers, cataphracts and spears;
At sight of him, the people with a shout

Rifted the air, clamouring their god with praise,
Who had made their dreadful enemy, their thrall.
He patient, but undaunted, where they led him
Came to the place-

-Those two massy pillars

With horrible convulsion to and fro,

He tugg'd, he shook, till down they came, and drew
The whole roof after them with burst of thunder

Upon the heads of all who sat beneath;

Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors, or priests- ||

• "Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth

with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?"-Numbers xvi. 13.

+Africanus, or Chron: Manetho.

Dr. Prichard, in his "Remains of Egyptian Chronology," p. 33.

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HOW TO BE WISE AND GOOD

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Let me intreat you to peruse the Bible itself. With prayer, read it; in your alert and with expectation, with eyes most tranquil retirement read it; and when a few of you, who are friends like-minded, come together, read it; search it, sift it, talk about it, talk with it. And as he thus grows mighty in it, I promise each earnest Bible-student two rewards,-it will make him both a wiser and a holier man.

Wiser for the sayings of God's word are solid. There is a substance, which you must have noticed, cast on the sea-shore, the medusa, or sea-nettle, as some sorts of it are called; an object rather beautiful as its dome of amber quivers in the sun. could you. And a goodly size it often is,- so large at times that scarcely lift it: but it is all a watery pulp, and if you were carrying it home or trying to preserve it, the whole mass would quickly trickle out of sight and leave you nothing but a few threads of substance. Now, most books are like the marine medusa; fresh stranded, newly-published (as the expression is). they make a goodly show; but when a few suns have shone on them, the crystal jelly melts, the glittering cupola has vanished, and a few meagre fibres in your memory are all the residue of the once popular authorship. If you ever tried it, you must have been struck with the few solid thoughts, the few suggestive ideas, which survive from the perusal of the most brilliant of human books. Few of them can stand three readings; and of the memorabilia which you had marked in your first perusal, on reverting to them you find that many of them are not so striking, or weighty, or original as you thought. But the Word of God is solid; it will stand a thousand readings, and the man who has gone over it the most frequently and the most carefully, is the surest of finding new wonders there. And just as the pearls of Scripture retain their intrinsic worth; as, notwithstanding the frowsy head-gear they have garnished, the dull discourses they have adorned, they beam brighter than ever when the hand of a Vinet, or Chalmers, or Hall, has arranged them anew into a coronet of sanctified taste and genius; so he amongst sages is the wealthiest man who has detected, and appropriated, and thoroughly possessed himself of

the largest number of Bible sayings, the merchantman who, seeking goodly pearls, has sought them on this exhaustless strand.

And holier for though we have spoken of the Bible very much as if it were a human book, you cannot be long versant with it till you find that it is something more. Like Tabor, it is a "mountain apart." Among the books of this world it is isolated, unique, peculiar; and the farther up you get, the more acquainted you become with human books, and the more alongside of them you study the Book of God, the more amazed will you be at its outstanding elevation, its world-topping pre-eminence. And just as in scaling a high mountain it needs no chemistry to analyse the air and tell the pilgrim that it is free from miasma and impurities; as every breath which paints a purer crimsom on his cheek and sends a tonic tide through all his suppling frame would tell him its salubrity: so it needs no argument, no analysis, to persuade a spiritual mind that the air of heaven, the breath of God, is here. In his holier feelings as he reads, in the godly zeal and joyful strenuousness which requite each mounting footstep, with instinct sure his regenerate nature hails the congenial inspiration. And just as on Tabor's summit, when from heaven saints in snowy garments came down, and from Christ his own glory came through, it needed no refracting prism or condensing lens to assure them that it was a body of more than earthly brightness which they were gazing upon so, my dear friends, when a text is transfigured, when the Holy Spirit in the Word lets out his grace and glory, it will need no Paley nor Butler to prove that the Wisdom and the Power of God are there, but, radiant with emitted splendour, and dazzling your admiring eyes, in God's own light you will see it to be God's own Word. Nor can I wish for you a better wish than that thus you may be often surprised and overwhelmed. Yes, in the very midst of this noisy capital, and in the meridian of this man-wasting, money-making age, may you often find your Sabbath, and your place of prayer, and your Bible, "a mountain apart." In blissful bewilderment may you forget the fascinations of earth and the pleasures of sin, and only wake up to find yourself alone with the Master.-Hamilton.

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DEAR SIR,-May I offer a few suggestions on the above subject?

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In all such painful dilemmas as are alluded to, it is always safest to appeal to the written word, wherein is the explicit direction, Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." (Col. iii. 20.) Consequently these commands may not be disregarded simply on the ground of "unreasonableness."

But again, a limit it assigned even for parental authority, and the apostolic injunction in Eph. vi. 1, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," warns the young believer, where filial deference must bow to the superior claims of the Father of Spirits. That St. Paul legislated in strict accordance with our Saviour's views, is evident from Christ's own statement, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,"-with the two preceding and explanatory verses of the same discourse.

In Ezekiel xviii. 14-20, a course of conduct is recommended which could not but place the son in opposition to the parent; but in all such circumstances the child should be doubly attentive and obedient to all commands which do not militate against the conscience, softening the refusal to sin when necessary to express it by the kindest accents, the most respectful language; above all, seeking that divine help which can either withhold so severe a trial, or "make a way of escape." Yours truly,

A CHRISTIAN MOTHER.

NEW ENQUIRY.

20. Go in Peace.

DEAR SIR,-Will you kindly explain 2 Kings v. 19. What did Elisha mean by "Go in peace ?" If you, or some of your able correspondents, could answer this question, you will much oblige

EMILY.

POETRY.

THE CHRISTIAN'S ARMOUR.
Ephes. vi, 10-18:

CHILD of the Cross! awake, arise,
Pursue thy journey to the skies,
On to conflict, on to strife,
On to win eternal life!

Though innumerable foes

Would thine onward march oppose,
Looking to The Strong for strength
Thou shalt overcome at length.
For thy Captain mighty is,

And the glorious cause is His, .
'Neath His banner urge thy way,
And for victory ceaseless pray.
Let then constancy and Truth
Be the girdle of thy youth,
And in Righteousness divine,
Robed may'st thou for ever shine.
Let thy feet be duly shod

With the Peace derived from God,
Peace, the fruit of sin forgiven,
Peace, the earnest here of heaven.

By the Holy Spirit's aid

The stubborn heart is contrite made,
Prepared the peace of God to prove,
The legacy of parting love.

Arm'd with Faith, who can withstand,
Warrior, thine all-powerful hand?
Foes, their fiery darts shall find
All are scattered to the wind.
Take the Spirit's two-edged sword,
Mighty is the Written Word;
Wield it with a dextrous aim,
And defend thyself from shame.

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