or the Legislature. Now, is not this a dangerous state of things? t least it seems so to those who cannot persuade themselves hat "we shall have peace, even though we walk in the imaginaon of our hearts," and earn heaven's curses by a reckless abanonment to material views.

As for expecting by any argument to awaken lively interest in e fundamental question of some progress in suffrage reforms, > that there might be a last faint chance for the resurrecon of parliamentary life and legislative sincerity, that is about well-founded a hope as the becalmed sailor's, when, worn out ith weariness, he whistles for a wind. May God preserve our untry, and, above all, give it that awakened moral and religious fe out of which a magnanimous and intelligible foreign policy, id statesmanship to execute it, would immediately spring!

NOTES ON SCRIPTURE.

The Cherubim.-The cherubim were certainly not angels, alough their conjunction with the "seraphim" in the Te Deum is led many to suppose that they belonged to the heavenly host. hey are manifestly symbols and nothing more. We find them in ur places in the Scripture. First, they were placed at the gate the garden of Eden, on the expulsion of man from Paradise, gether with the Shekinah that guarded the entrance against the pproach of Adam to the tree of life; secondly, we find them enironed on the mercy-seat of the ark, the blaze of the divine glory like manner hovering between them; thirdly, we find them rving as the chariot or flying-throne of Deity, in the vision of zekiel; and lastly, we find them in the Apocalyptic vision of he throne of God, round about that throne, and leading the chorus f praise for human redemption. In each case in which a detailed escription is given of their form, we are told that the compound gure consisted of the body and head of a lion, of a calf or bull, of n eagle with its wings, and of the face and arms of a man. f these images appear to have been emblems of dominion. The ion is the king of wild beasts, the bull is the king of cattle, the agle is the king of birds, and man is the king of all—the lord and uler of the lower world. The remembrance of this complex symbol of human sovereignty seems to have remained long in the original seats of revelation, the multiform and gigantic images which stood at the gates of the temples and palaces of Nineveh being in fact formed on the model of primeval antiquity.

Each

But what are we to understand by the position of the cherubim in the Jewish temple, and in that visionary temple of heaven depicted in the Apocalypse? The mercy-seat was the very throne of Jehovah. What could be designed by placing on that throne a double emblem of the sovereignty of man-of that human nature which forms a part of this physiological system, and is, on one side, but the glorious climax of the animal organic world? The following solution is submitted for the reader's consideration:There appears to be reason for considering the whole structure of the tabernacle and temple as a combination of types of the great mystery of redemption. The inclosure of the temple-the laver, the brazen altar, the first vail, the golden altar, the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick, the second vail, the ark, the rod that budded, the mercy-seat-all were emblems of that great system of redemption in Christ by which the Church is brought near to God, is washed and sprinkled and sanctified, and finally brought into the holiest through the propitiation and intercession of the blessed Redeemer. Čan it then be that the inmost and most sacred symbol of all-that which occupies the most eminent position on the very throne of God-is destitute of a meaning congruous to the signification of the whole typical edifice? Rather may we not gather the assurance that the cherubim represent the ultimate mystery of the Christian revelation, that to which all others are introductory and subsidiary? In a word, were not the cherubim symbols of humanity exalted to the throne, and reigning for ever and ever with God? The most glorious feature of the final economy is, that the man Christ Jesus" has been raised "far above all heavens," and has sat down at the right hand of the "Majesty on High." Did the temple comprise symbolic representations of all the other mysteries of the gospel; but none whatever of this, which was its crown? This seems highly improbable. But accept the present suggestion, and the whole fabric assumes an aspect of organic unity, showing forth the work of God in saving sinners on earth, and the consummation of their glory in heaven. When God made man on earth, He gave him dominion over the whole animated world. But the entrance of sin discrowned the King of Nature, and he became a slave to the Power of Darkness. By redemption, man is delivered from the "bondage of corruption," and translated to the "heavenly places." "heavenly places." He is destined to the Sovereignty of the universe through the Incarnation. The firstfruits of this harvest of glory we see in the enthronement of Jesus Christ "We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." But as yet the great work is incomplete. "Thou hast put all things under His feet." The time shall arrive when "the Church, the body of Him that filleth

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all in all," shall be "raised in power," and shall "sit down with Christ upon His throne," to "judge angels," to exercise "all power in heaven and earth," to be "kings and priests unto God," and to "reign for ever and ever." Meantime, the symbolic cherubim round about the throne are represented as leading the chorus of praise for redemptiou by the blood of Christ. "Seeing then that we look for such things, what manner of people ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?"

X.

Nottingham.

POETRY.

JESUS AT JACOB'S WELL.

I see thee, Saviour, as thou satest there,
In drought and weariness, the well beside-
A single palm tree shields thee from the glare.
I see the Syrian woman, wonder-eyed,
Before thee stand-

The empty pitcher hanging from her hand.

I hear thy words of warning mercy flow,
Soft to the sinful while they chide the sin ;
I watch the greatness of her wonder grow
As rises high an answering voice within,
And straight she learns

Her need-and for the draught diviner yearns.

It was in eastern summers, long gone by,
Thou askedst water from the olden spring:
Desiring eyes beheld thee-thou wert nigh

To those that languished, heavenly boons to bring;
But now no more

Treadest the Shechem vale, the Jordan shore.

It was in Hebrew history, long gone by,

And thou wert walking tow'rd the Cross-crowned goal,

A human sympathy was in thine eye,

A lonely sorrow in thy burdened soul,

And thou didst bear

For the world's weal a doom which none might share.

Still is the blessed story Gospel-good

Thou by the wells of life art waiting yet;

For peace and pardon to be sought and sued,
And troubled men may still their guilt forget,
And slake their pain,

Quaff light and hope and love, nor thirst again.

J. TRUMAN.

634

AIDS TO REFLECTION.

I.

The events which occur under the government of God are of two classesthose which recur at periodic times, and those which are not fixed by measured intervals. Of the first class are most of the great movements of material nature -the revolution of binary stars, the turning of the sun; on its axis, the comple tion of their circuits by the planets and their satellites, and the motions of the cometary bodies. Among these events are notably the movements of the earth on its inclined axis, and annually in its orbit, with the resulting pheno mena of day and night, and the seasons of the year-a movement so exactly timed, though the world flies along seventy times quicker than the quickest cannon ball, that every star is seen in precisely the same position relatively to a stretched hair on the expiration of a twelvemonth. Thus, too, other pheno mena follow periodically; the trade-winds, the monsoons, the tides, and the re curring aspects of earth and sky. In the same manner fixed times are ordered for the animal creation-in their growth, maturity, migrations, and death. Human nature is remarkably subject to the law of periodicity, in its birth, growth, teething, maturity, times of hunger and thirst, sleeping, waking, and many other parti culars and functions. In all these events it is easy and common to trace "the wonderful working of Him that is perfect in knowledge." Of the second class of events, those which do not occur at fixed intervals are the proceedings of God in dealing with free agents in nature and grace; such as the ordering of the circumstances of each man's life, and the succession of kingdoms and c pires in the history of the world.

II.

The recognition of God's providence in the timing of events not measured by definite intervals is less common than in those of the first order; but the action of God must be as real in one case as in the other. He has determined not only what shall happen at the hours of the clock, but at all the dispropor tionate intervals, and He has determined the intervals at which all events shal happen. All rational probabilities point this way. He who regulates events must regulate their time. In whatever degree, therefore, it is probable there is a moral providence, it is also in the same degree probable that God has “deter mined the times before appointed, and the bounds of men's habitation." Events both great and small are interwoven, and must alike be under the chronological control of Omnipotence-theflong threads of the woof of general history being not more important than the short cross threads of the weft of individual biography; both together combining to form the tissue of universal providence. And in forming this web the shuttle must fly at an instant exactly specified by the Supreme Worker.

III.

Chronological Prophecy is a demonstration of the reality of this timing of events by Almighty Wisdom and Power. Revelation is one prolonged calen dar of God's working among the sons of men, affording decisive indications that God regulates the year, and the month, and the day, and the hour." The promise to Abram of the redemption of Israel from Egypt at a particular epoch; the announcement, through Isaiah, of the birth of Cyrus as the redeemer of the Jews-through Jeremiah (chap. xxv.), of the duration of the Babylonish empire -through Daniel, in dark symbols, of the duration of thef our great secular em

of the time of the coming of the Messiah, and of the cleansing of the sancy; and, finally, the repeated declaration of the downfall of anti-christian uption at the expiration of three and a-half specified "times," or forty-two nths," or twelve hundred and sixty "days," offer clear indications that works in providence according to a plan which includes the arrangement times," both for the Gentiles and the Jews. Now, the same providence which ly controlled the affairs of Israel and fixed the "day of his visitation," be conceived of as governing all nations with equal minuteness and care. and evil are alike subject to this omniscient control. The mightiest Powers arkness have but their "hour." Satan has been a "roaring lion," but God always held the chain which hangs upon his neck. "He hath but a short

IV.

he same power which thus regulates the great times of history must have lated all its minor portions. He who determined the periodic flight of the e, determined the epoch in the spring for the blooming of the violet. He has fixed the times of the orbs of heaven, and the period of revolution for e wheels within wheels which roll beneath his cherubic car of flame, has I all times relating to the history of Christ as Incarnate Mediator, of that rch which is His body, and of the individual life of the saints who are its nbers.

V.

verything that concerned the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ was ordered in time and place by the Eternal King. His birth was in the Iness of times," according to the scriptures of the prophets; his ministry was menced at the appointed month and year; his personal experiences were ulated during all its course by the pre-arranged plan of Omnipotence. They d not lay hands on Him, "because His hour was not yet come." But when "hour had come," the "hour" brought the Power of Darkness, and he delivered into the hands of sinful men. He then died on the appointed , the passover, and at the appointed hour, between the two evenings, and se again on the third day, according to the scriptures."

VI.

The history of the Church, or the body of Christ, has been regulated by the e minute care in the planning of the times of her trial. The Powers of Darks that raged like the stormy sea at night around the Lord, have raged also und his bride, chained to the rock amidst the tempests. But God has ed the raging of the sea, and has sat King above the waterfloods. All onsets persecution and infidelity have been regulated by His power. "Ye shall ve tribulation ten days." Her times of "rest as well as of" scattering road" have been fixed by a decree. He gives her days of grace, times of reshment, hours of temptation, periods of suffering, years of release. All at we see around us of opposition to Christ is regulated both in time, and place, d power. The triumphs of the wicked shall be short. The witnesses must prophecy in sackcloth " during the appointed epochs; then in one last burst o tanic fury they must be killed;" but "after three days" they shall be caught up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies behold them," the "last umpet "shall sound, the walls of spiritual Jericho and Babylon shall fall own flat, and the "kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our od."

VII.

Individual history must be equally under divine control in the timing of its vents. "My times are in thy hand." Times of temporal supply. Thus God