of that beloved city. Promise after promise broke upon him, till, unconscious of all but the theme that engrossed him, the poor prisoner's face was mantled with smiles, and shone with the radiance of unclouded joy. Of the lapse of time he was as little conscious as of the presence of his captors, his guards, his judge, and probable executioners. His Jerusalem was before him, in all the brightness of that latter-day glory, which he knew to be near at hand; and in the contemplation of his redeeming, returning Messiah, it seemed a small matter to him whether he was immediately called into his presence by sudden death, or left to declare among his friends and kindred, what great things Jesus has done for him, and to occupy till he should come again. But though regardless of all others, he was not himself disregarded a superior officer, in the Egyptian uniform, but by no means of Egyptian cast of countenance, was attentively watching him; and when Alick's turn came to be led forward, and accused before the Aga, he too approached, an interested observer of all that was going on. NOTES TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. No. III. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. "ALMS all around and hymns within, What sacred mission dost thou hold, With high imaginings art wont, And does thine office but unite Art thou content to dwell Where, though life's follies please thee less, The fragrance of self-righteousness Perfumes the hermit's cell? Such was not Paul! his mission high Pass'd holy rituals briefly by, To preach Salvation sent. Christ was his theme, and souls his prize, Onward the preacher went. Christ was his theme-from clime to clime, He trod the proud Athenian street, And when his hands ordaining spread He showed the gospel way; To preach the word § bend all thy powers, Christ crucified he preached—the Word : Shed first the gospel's cloudless light, The life-the soul of all. The bread 'twill break-'twill pour the wine, The inward blessing call. § Preach the word, be instant. In season. ** See whole book of Acts. + Acts xx. 7. ¶ And out of season. FEMALE BIOGRAPHY OF SCRIPTURE. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. No. I. LIFE is like the Sibyl's books, the pages of which became more precious in proportion as their number diminished. We are all slow to learn the value of opportunities, and seldom recognize their preciousness, till we come to look back upon them from the point where they have vanished, and for ever. Manhood, as he wipes his weary brow, and thinks upon the careless leisure of his youthful days, laments that then he did not, as he might have done, employ his vigorous hours in gathering golden fruit from the fair fields of reason; and fragrant honied flowers from the wilds of fancy: that he did not, as he might have done, preserve the crystal cup of life pure from all turbid mixtures of polluting draughts: that he did not nobly contend with evil, ere he yielded to the darkness and degradation of worldly ends and aims. Old age (too often) looks back upon a world receding from its view, and sees the voyage accomplished, but without gain of life's true merchandise: the tale brought to an end, and no more of excitement, no more of interest remaining. And lost spirits (such is the testimony of Him who is the Truth) bewail in self-accusing anguish, their loss of opportunities; and would fain propose themselves as exemplars to others whose day of grace has not yet expired. Neglect of opportunities, as it is one chief cause of remorse in this world, so will it be a chief accuser at the day of judgment. Wherefore else does our Lord represent a heathen state, and a heathen potentate, as severally arraigned at the bar of God, to convict the men of his time of this, their special iniquity? "The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is here." He further declares, His ministry in the world was the setting up of the light on a candlestick. Luke xi. 29-36. They who came not to this light, were they whose moral vision was obscured the very light within them was darkness. "And this was the condemnation, that light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deed were evil." 66 93.66 But though opportunities are as light set on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light; there needs, it seems, a capacity of vision before men can behold it: a single eye," a body full of light." How momentous, then, that cautionary charge with which our Lord concludes his condemnatory address to the Jews, on the neglect of their special opportunities" take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness." Let thy moral vision be purged . |