Solaces the conscious heart,

And to sinners dares impart
Pardon by his own decree,

Is not more than prophet He?

Take then thou that woman's place ;

Humbled in thine own conceit,

Pharisee, thyself abase;

Bend and clasp the Saviour's feet!
Tell the plague thy heart within;
Seek forgiveness of thy sin :

Thou that woman's grace shalt prove;
Thou shalt feel that woman's love!

O, like her, the Saviour seek,

O, to him thy heart be given;
Thou, like her, shalt hear him speak
"All thy sins are thee forgiven!"
Thou, like her, shalt hear him say,
Rise, and go thy homeward way:
Lo, thy faith hath caus'd to cease
All thy troubles; go in peace."

F. Why do you describe the " alabaster box," of which our version speaks, as a "box of onyx stone?"

A. Because the "alabaster" stone, of which the "box" was made, being used by the ancients for the purpose of holding ointments or perfumes, as capable of preserving them most free from corruption, was a valuable sort of marble, specified by Pliny under the name of "onyx." With respect to the contents of the box, I may observe, that the original word, rendered in our translation "ointment," means specifically "an aromatick, odoriferous ointment." Galen, as quoted by Mr. Parkhurst after Wetstein, distinguishes it from oil

F

in general, and characterises it as properly" oil, in which any aromatick is mixed.”

F. I presume you mean to mark this distinction by the two phrases at the beginning of the tenth stanza.

A. Certainly: "the unguent of sweet spices" answering to the term now before us; whereas the word, which I represent by "oil of olive," properly signifies "the expressed juice of the olive tree."

CONVERSATION XV.

CHRIST ON THE SEA OF GALILEE.

4. WE have now to take a view of our blessed Lord, exercising his authority over another element, and shewing that he could make "the winds and the sea obey him."

F. Do you allude to "the stilling of the storm" on the sea of Galilee?

A. I do so. We have already seen his power manifested on the inhabitants of the sea: on the present occasion it was manifested on the sea itself, which he was crossing on his way from the land of Gennesaret to that of the Gadarenes.

F. In a former conversation, you spoke of the sea of Galilee as remarkable for the tranquillity of its waters. Is not that its general character?

A. So understand it: but, as is commonly the case with such bodies of water, the lake, being for the most part inclosed by high mountains, is subject to sudden and violent tempests, which rouse the waves into great fury; especially by reason of the strong current, which is caused by the Jordan in its passage through it: and when, as Dr. Clarke informs us, "this is opposed by contrary winds, which blow here with the force of a hurricane from the south-west, sweeping from the mountains into the lake, a boisterous sea is instantly raised,

which the small vessels of the country are ill qualified to resist."

F. Dr. Clarke, as you quote him, notices "the winds sweeping from the mountains into the lake." Does not this illustrate a phrase in St. Luke's narrative of the miracle, that "there came down a storm of wind on the lake?"

A. It appears to do so; and the illustration is pointed at by the traveller in question; who says, with reference to St. Luke in particular, "that a storm of the foregoing description is plainly denoted by the language of the Evangelist, in recounting one of our Lord's miracles."

THE TEMPEST STILLED.

Matt. viii. 23-27. Mark iv. 35-41. Luke viii. 22-25,

"PEACE-be still!" the Saviour said,
And mildly rais'd his pillow'd head,
Wak'd by his followers' cry;
As, fear-struck at the stormy deep,
They rous'd him from his placid sleep;
"Lord, save us, or we die."

Smooth o'er Tiberias' sunny sea,

The crystal lake of Galilee,

The vessel held her way;

While fearless, near the helm reclin'd,

The lowly Saviour of mankind

In soothing slumber lay.

With slumber sweet and deep he slept,
(Their vigils unseen angels kept,)
When down the mountain-steep
The winds a sudden tempest pour;
Around the beating surges roar,

And o'er the shallop sweep.

"Peace-be still!" the Saviour said: Rebuk'd, the winds and sea obey'd,

Submissive to his will;

Gently as on its mother's breast

The tender nursling sinks to rest ;
And all was smooth and still.

"What man is this? what more than man," The rescued train o'erpower'd began

With awe and glad surprise,

"Whose voice the winds and waves obey ?"

Thus wonder gave her feelings way,

And reason thus replies.

Ask, who of yore with potent hand,
Threw round the sea a wall of sand;
And to its billows said,

"Thus far advance thy waves, O sea;
This thy perpetual boundary be;
And here thy pride be stay'd!"

Ask, who of yore a place assign'd,
A dwelling for the viewless wind,
His treasure-house for war;

And taught the swift-wing'd storms to know,
Their season when abroad to blow,

And when their blasts to spare.

Then mark him here, in pow'r the same!

The human soul, the human frame,

To nature's frailty heir,

And prone at nature's call to steep

The senses in refreshing sleep,

His human race declare.