And thus, O deliverer of Israel, when thou didst enter on the scene of conflict, thou didst descend from thy throne of glory, and put on the garb of a servant and a suppliant! Thou didst not make this world a stage whereon to enact deeds that should cause earth to ring with acclamations, such as attend the sons of valour or of skill upon their dazzling track. Thou didst not go forth with blood-stained armies at thy feet, conquering and to conquer. Thou didst not challenge an admiring world to deeds of intellectual daring, and win wreaths of amaranth to bloom while time endures. Thou didst not pursue thy initiatory course through mystic tests, demanding iron nerve and dauntless heart. Greater, far greater than these were the achievements of thy humanity, the trials of thy love! Humiliation marked thy progress from the cradle to the cross! Thy life of poverty-thy menial employments-thy converse with the wretched, the guilty, the outcast—' thy baptism of water and of blood-thy fasting and temptation-thy nights of prayer and days of labour -thy patient bearing under contempt and calumnythy meek endurance of scourging and reviling-thine intercession begun even on earth for thy murderers -and, above all, thy spotless soul made a sin-offering, that over thy mangled body, when that "horror of great darkness" fell upon thee (Gen. xv. 12—14), the eternal God might make a covenant with the whole human race, to deliver them from the slavery and servitude of sin, and to bring them into that glorious place whither thou the forerunner art already entered! These things teach us where to look for greatness; not where the trumpet-tongue of fame proclaims, "behold the man," but where, perchance,

angelic eyes alone behold submission to the will of God and self-renunciation, and high imaginations laid prostrate, and opposing wills subdued; and faith that sees not, and yet believes, as seeing; and hope that waits for the promise, and does not make haste to accomplish it; and love that "seeks not its own;" but looks upon the wounds of this sin-stricken world and longs to heal them: that will not pass by in cold unconcern, but will approach, and pour the oil of divine mercy thereon, and bear the burden at its own cost and toil, and come again to renew and complete its labour, and be "straitened till it is accomplished." For God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

LYDIA.

I BELIEVE there is such a thing as even the believer's being so allured, so led captive by things of sense, as for even the mighty argument to be overpowered "If ye love me, keep my commandments,"-and that many Christians, under the conviction that their souls cannot be lost, live in the indulgence of unlawful gratifications, rather than go through the torture of the whole heart being drawn and quartered.-Lady Powerscourt.

DEAR MADAM,

A QUERY.

IF the following statement be admissible in your valuable work, I shall feel greatly obliged by its insertion, as I doubt not the remarks it will call forth will prove highly beneficial to some unthinking Christian parents. The simple question is:-Are Protestant parents justified, under any circumstance, in sending their infant children to be educated by female Roman Catholic teachers? The case is as follows:-My husband, myself, and our three children, are living for a time under the roof of a relative, in a distant part of the country, and I am urged to allow my little daughter, three years old, to go with her cousin, a boy of four, in a temporary way, to a school kept by a very kind, motherly woman in the neighbourhood; but she is a Roman Catholic. My husband says—and I entirely coincide with him-that he cannot consent to his child being placed under the influence of a Romanist. To this it is pleaded, that no harm can possibly-accrue to one so young; besides which, the teacher never tries to instil her notions into the minds of her pupils, and that many good church people send their children. To this we reply: We are not answerable for the acts of others, but have to regret that such lukewarm Protestants are to be found; that, as a good Romanist, she ought to take advantage of the oppor

tunity thus afforded her, by endeavouring to imbue the minds of her little charge with the principles of the church of Rome; and, considering the great susceptibility of the infant mind, that by the very amiability of her demeanour, she will at least give them a favourable impression of her religion. To use my husband's words, "I would rather lose my right hand than consent to it."

I should state, that my relatives are members of the Wesleyan Methodist Society; but, in justice to that respectable body of Christians, I must add, I believe there are few of them who would not be more orthodox.

I am, dear madam,

Yours faithfully,

JANE.

[Most heartily do we concur in the sentiments of 'Jane' and her husband. We should consider it little, if at all less offensive to God, to entrust a child to the tuition of one who, however ignorantly and conscientiously, bears the mark of the Papal Antichrist, than to pass that child through the fire to Moloch.-ED.]

IS ALL WELL?

THE face of nature, on a bright summer day, and the countenance of man when in health and prosperity, would seem, at first sight, to indicate that there are occasions on which the question, Is all well? might be answered in the affirmative, even where the grace of God is unknown. But it is the duty of a Christian to look below the surface of things. He finds even in the beautiful works of nature elements of their own decay,—a worm in the bud, destroying vitality under the delusive exterior. And he knows that a man's countenance is not always a true index to the state of his mind; but that there is often a sinking at the heart, where there is nothing without, which would warrant the suspicion of such a state of things as exists within. Ask this question of a mere man of the world, and he will perhaps endeavour to evade it ; or if he answers it at all, will either shew by his reply the reed on which he leans, or will make the melancholy confession that all is not well.

The truth is, that, in all unconverted persons, nothing is well: their best actions are performed on wrong principles; there is no love to God, no desire of his favour, no relish for his service, no reference to his will, in anything that they do. The answer, then, to our question, from such persons, cannot be mistaken; it is distinct and clear; their judgments,