terious principle which operates on everything, and yet touches nothing. We are familiar with Time; we live in it, and move in it, and within its period we have our being. We have so much of it on hand, that we spend it profusely, extravagantly, wastefully. We surely ought to know something about it; and yet we know it but a little, and esteem it even less than that little!

Time is a finite thing, proceeding from and tending towards the infinite. Time is partial, progressing onward to that which is perfect. Coeval with the sun-yea, the first-born of creation-Time shall be the last to die. Time derives from eternity her birth, and in eternity she shall find her lasting grave. Time is as the blank page between the two Testaments on which are registered the records of the families of men.

Time is the parenthesis occurring amid the current context of eternity, within the limits of which is written the whole history

of man.

"Time, the first-born of creation,

First to live and last to die; "Twixt the first and last pulsation,

Time unfolds her mystery.

"'Mid the context of th' Eternal, This parenthesis to scan, Is to read within its limits

All the history of man!"

All things here are partial—that is, made up of parts. The ocean consists of individual drops of water, as distinct as the drops of rain; witness the tiny particles of spray. The world and matter consist of minute grains of sand; witness the clouds of dust driven by the breeze of the summer-tide. All finite and temporal things are of their very nature partial. Human society is so all the amendments of the past and attainments for the present are but so many partial steps and stages of progress towards ultimate perfection. “When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."

:

many a link of sympathy, holding in intimate connexion things temporal with the things that are eternal.

Time is an island fixed in a mighty ocean, still holding communion with the mainland, deriving therefrom its temporal and spiritual supplies, and day after day despatching convoys of emigrants to the further shore of the spiritland. It is a dependency of a vast empire, sub. sisting by the express will and pleasure of its Sovereign Lord and Master, who first bade Time begin, and who yet again shall bid it cease to be.

The existence of Time is marked very much as our own existence-by pulsation. The constant ticking of a clock, what is it but as the constant beating of my pulse? In the one as in the other, there is the same motion, rapid and quick, proceeding onward in continuous succession. There is no intermission, no suspense of action, but each beats its pulsation, and then seems to ask and to obtain permission to beat again. Ay, if we were wise, we would count our Time, not by years or months or days, but we would "count Time by heartthrobs ;"

Time is as its own ready-reckoner, the timepiece. It is marked on its dial-plate and outward surface with periods, larger and smaller. The lesser periods advance unostentatiously, and scarcely noticed or perceived; the larger periods chime their quarters, or strike their hours, or bring round their anniversaries, and thus tell us with their tongue of eloquence how Time is passing. But still the pendulum swings on, and Time is not yet run out. We know not when or where or how soon the chain may exhaust its last link, or the mainspring snap asunder, or the silver cord be loosed, and the machine so curiously wrought-this piece of human mechanism, "so fearfully and wonderfully made,"-may come to a standstill, and all be over!

Time is as a river. From the source of its rising at the fountain-head it runs in its appointed channel with its incessant current to the sea. For those that sail adown its stream, there are floating marks provided-waymarks for the weary, beacons for the wanderer-either as timely warning against danger, or cheerful encouragement to progress,

name of Saturn.

He was the son of Colus and Terra (i.e., Heaven and Earth). His elder brother, Titan, a great giant of those days, resigned to him his kingdom on condition that he should rear no male offspring. Therefore, said they, Saturn devoured his own sons as soon as they were born. But Rhea, his wife, contrived to preserve and bring up Jupiter, who afterwards sat upon his father's throne as king of all, both of gods and men.

Is this mere fable or romance, or an unmixed

Revelation. There it continues as the original substratum, underlying much of man's creation; and if it be sought for, it will reward with suc cess the search of the inquirer.

Learn, then, these lessons from the mythology of the heathen respecting Time :-It is the offspring of Heaven and Earth, constituting a bond of connexion between them both; so that each is interested in its progress, and is intent upon its career. A greater than Time, a giant of Omnipotence, hath appointed to Time his king

dom, to rule in His stead, and to be His viceroy; but on condition that he bring up neither son nor offspring. Time accepts the sovereignty, and fulfils the condition. We are his sons, his progeny, and we have scarce been born when we must die; for this devouring Time will not suffer us to live. So that, when Time himself shall die, he shall leave no heir to take his inheritance, nor son to sit upon his throne. The line shall be extinct, his lineage exhausted, and his race run out. In Time's first-born son"in Adam, all die."

Yet there is one of Time's own sons, one that was "made of a woman, made under the law -the Man Christ Jesus-who has survived the wreck of the desolation of Time. He lives now; He shall live after Time; He shall rule in Time's stead, and be King of all, when "the kingdoms of this world [Time's present Sovereignty] shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." Christ shall then be All and in all-the Lord of Time as well as of Eternity. "Then cometh the end!"

Time is further described in the emblems of all nations as an old man-yea, very old— decrepid with age; a wayworn and weather

beaten old man-with wings, a mowing scythe in his hand, and a forelock upon his brow.

Here lessons crowd upon us, taught in the schools of mythology. The age of Time is great in proportion to the age of man, Time being the sole survivor of generations past. His wings signify the rapidity of his progress; the mowing sickle represents his ravages; and the forelock upon his forehead is trite as a teacher of men—inculcating this lesson, that Time may be anticipated, but once he has passed by he cannot be overtaken.

"Time in advance, behind him hides his wings, And seems to creep, decrepid with his age: Behold him, when passed by; what then is seen But his broard pinions, swifter than the winds ?" And while eternity has ever been represented by the golden ring, without beginning and having no end, but going ever round and round; the figurative device representing Time is the emblem of a fish coiled in a circle, and eating off its own tail-a process which, if it were possible to continue, must bring the fish to a speedy end. And even such is Time, the very same as the emblem teacheth-a selfdestroyer, working out the consummation of all, and of itself at last.

THE DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN.

"Fear not, little flock!"

Why should the Christian doubt or fear
When Death, with solemn step, draws near?
Why shrink with terror from the hand
That guides him to the better land?

Hath, then, this world so many charms,
Such peaceful rest, so few alarms?
Or, Life Eternal, wears it less
A garb of graceful happiness?

Or doth the conscience-stricken one
Think o'er the evil he hath done,
And dread lest his eternal doom
Be endless woe beyond the tomb ?
Forgets he, then, the sacrifice,
When erst on earth the Saviour trod ?
Or doubts that, bought at such a price,
The soul may safely meet its God?

By flowing stream and glassy mead, He sings to shame

Men who forget, in fear of need,

A Father's name.

The heart that trusts, for ever sings,
And feels as light as it had wings;
A well of peace within it springs;
Come good or ill,

Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings,
It is His will.

From "The Secret Springs."

THE DIGNITY OF TRIAL.

We continually use the term trial in common life. A trial of strength, a trial of skill, a trial for honours; these are familiar expressions. And when this term is employed to designate God's dispensations to His children, shall all idea of the dignity of its meaning be forgotten? Could there be made visible to us from this arena of difficulty and conflict, the presence of the Judge of all the earth, and the surrounding throng and cloud of witnesses, all intent with earnest gaze upon the success or defeat of him who should approve himself a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, would not each test, each opportunity for proving the power of the whole armour of God, be regarded as a high privilege rather than a cause for complaining? Would not each ardent follower of the great Captain of our salvation eagerly press forward for admission within the lists of competitors for such privilege and honour?

And is it because we cannot choose our trials-because they are common, unheroic tests of faith-because there are no such visible on-lookers, no wide-sounding proclamations of victory as yet attendant on the conqueror that we lose our precious birthright of joy when called to prove our armour in the sight of the Lord?

Oh, if annoyances, vexations, the daily

cares of homely and ordinary life, the commonplace difficulties arising from incongruity with those who share that life with us, the petty perturbations attendant upon the every-day routine of duty, could be regarded in their true light, as "trials," tests, carefully, advisedly employed by a Father's hand-tests of faith more precious in His sight than gold that perisheth-how should we esteem the individual care and love evidenced by such selection! This thought it was which led St. Paul to glory in tribulations, and St. James to count them all joy. And the remembrance of One sitting as a refiner of silver, and trying His children as gold is tried, until He sees His own image perfectly reflected in them, will glorify the daily cross which we are called to bear as those professing themselves partakers of Christ's afflictions, and who would loyally suffer, if they would hereafter reign with Him. ANON.

66 CONTINUE YE IN MY LOVE." "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" There are those that sigh that no fond heart is theirs;

None loves them best;-Oh, vain and foolish sigh!

Out of the bosom of His life He sparesThe Father spares the Son, for thee to die; For thee He died, for thee He lives again: O'er thee He watches in His boundless reign.

Thou art as much His care as if beside Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth; Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth;

They shine and shine with unexhausted

store

Thou art thy Lord's beloved-seek no more. ANON.

SCRIPTURE QUESTIONS, ETC.

1. Who, addressing his younger brother, said to him, "Let not the anger of my lord wax hot "?

2. At what place did God first promise Abram the land of Canaan ?

3. A teaching Levite under a good king, a chief who signed Nehemiah's covenant, and a king's son who aspired to his father's throne, but was put to death by his younger brother, were all three of the same name. Who were they?

4. What two kings were mentioned by name more than a hundred years before they were born?

5. What idol was worshipped at Ekron in the time of Elijah?

6. For whom were the gleanings of the cornfields and vineyards to be left?

7. Where was Apollos, the Jew, born?

8. What kingdom is called "the strong staff"?

9. Who, before our Saviour's time, and who after, were called the "servants of the Most High God"?

10. Where and when was it that "the people

xi. 3. 3. Axe. 2 Kings vi. 5, 6. 4. Chenaniah. 1 Chron. xv. 22. 5. Ezel. 1 Sam. xx. 19. 6. Balaam. 2 Peter ii. 15. 7. Ebedmelech. Jer. xxxviii. 8, 9. 8. Talent. 1 Chron. xx. 2. 9. Ophrah. Judges ix. 5. 10. Toi. Acts xxi. 40.

2 Sam. viii. 10. 11. Hebrew. 12. Idols. 1 John v. 21. 13. Shechem. Judges ix. 46. 14. Helmet. Eph. vi. 17; Is. lix. 17. 15. Oak. Gen. xxxv. 8. 16. Ulai. Dan. viii. 2. 17. Seashore. John xxi. 12. 18. Ephrath. Gen. xxxv. 19.

"Peace be to this house."

II.

1. Sapphira. Acts v. 10. 2. Oreb. Judges vii. 25. 3. Lazarus. 4. Omega. 5. Mahalaleel. Gen. v. 10, 12. 6. Ono. Nehemiah vii. 37. 7. Naaman.

Solomon-Absalom.

The late CANON STOWELL.