Three whole

hundred feet beneath the mass!
villages were blotted out for ever! No trace
remained, save a single bell that was carried from
the church a long distance. The little lake at
the foot of the mountain received a part of the
descending mass which caused the waters to rise
and sweep over an island seventy feet above the
level of the lake, carrying all to ruin! To this
hour you can see where

"Mountains have fallen,
Leaving a gap in the clouds, and with the shock
Rocking their Alpine brethren; filling up
The ripe, green valleys with destruction's splinters,
Damming the rivers with a sudden dash,

Which crushed the waters into mist, and made
Their fountains find another channel."

Oh! had a little child with a feather in his hand stood there, and seen this ruin coming, could he, by stretching out his little arm, have stopped it? Could he have turned it back? Yes, a thousand times more easily than all created men could turn back or hinder God from doing what He thinks best to do or to have done! "I am a great King, saith the Lord of Hosts."

VII. THE BROKEN STAFF MENDED. "He went into a city called Nain," etc.-LUKE vii. 11-16. THEY tell us there is a poisonous valley which has been visited by many travellers. It is small, and is surrounded by hills. As you look off from these hills, you see a level, circular basin, that looks smooth and fair,-except that there is not a living tree or bush, not a wayside flower, nor even a single green blade of grass to be seen. No wind blows in it, nor is there a living thing that moves. All over it lie the bleaching bones of the dead. The bones of the huge elephant and of the strong lion, of the timid hare and of the fleet deer, lie scattered around; while here and there lie the bones of some traveller who

went into it in his ignorance, and there died, and found no grave. Nothing that ever goes down there, comes up again!

Now suppose that on the brow of one of these surrounding hills were gathered a company of young men. They gaze, silent and awe-struck into the valley. While they look, a cry of terror bursts from them; for just at the foot of the rock on which they stand they see a poor traveller, writhing in distress, and gasping for breath! He is too far gone to shout, or to utter another cry for help. In an instant, one of the young men slips the end of a cord which he has in his hand over the point of a rock, and slides down on the rope to the perishing stranger. He has just time enough to tie the rope round the dying man, and beckon to his comrades to pull him up, before he himself falls by the poisonous air. They draw up the half-dead stranger, and save him; but their companion and friend is down there dying! No one can go to him! No one can save him! He must die, and be left there to bleach with the dead! And they now find, too, that the man whom they have saved was the bitter enemy of their friend. And their friend knew it too, and knew it when he put the rope round him, instead of putting it round his own body, after he got to him! How they now speak of the nobleness, the generosity, and the goodness of their friend! How that man who

was his enemy feels when he thinks that he hated such a character!

Ah, children! you and I were in a poisonous valley like that, and we were dying and unable to help ourselves, and Christ came and looked, and there was none to save, and He wondered that there was none to help! He died that we might live. He "tasted death for every man.” "While we were enemies, Christ died for us.'

Ob! if it were not that we have seen it so long and so often, how beautiful in our eyes would be the light of the clear summer morning! If we had not seen it so often, how charming would be to us the bush that hangs loaded with roses! If we had not heard the account so often, we should weep and exult at the story of Jesus Christ, and of His dying for men! He had to descend even into the grave, in order to bring us up out of the poisoned valley.

The story from which we take our text this afternoon is a wonderful one. In the days when Christ was on earth, they had no cannon or powder, or such terrible weapons of war as we now have; but they fought with swords and spears, for the most part. Hence almost any kind of wall built up round a town would be a defence. These walled towns were full of people, who crept out in the morning, and went off to till the ground or to watch their cattle. No leper was permitted to live in a town, and no

dead were allowed to be buried within the walls. Our Saviour had one day been preaching to a great multitude, and working miracles, after which He set out to enter one of these walled towns. A great multitude of people followed Him. Some went, because they wanted to hear Him preach again; some, because they wanted to see Him do some great miracle; some, because. they wanted to know why He went into that walled town; and some followed Him because

others did.

Just before they reach the gates of the town, they meet a funeral. It is a large funeral, though there is only one mourner. It is the mother of the dead, a poor widow,-who has lost her only son, the staff of her age. It is towards evening, the hour of the day when they usually bury their dead. Christ looks weary, for it is supposed that He has walked about twelve miles to-day. When the two processions meet, they both stop. The weeping mother follows the bier. She is just thinking how her son used to look, how his voice used to sound, how he was dutiful and kind to her! She is recalling his childhood, and the many hopes she has had concerning him. She is thinking how lonely her home will now be, how little she has to live for, how gladly she would die with him. She is closely veiled, and sees nothing but the dust on which she treads. She wonders why they have stopped.

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