This man appeared

remarkable as it seemed to be sincere. burdened with the load of his sins, and to lessen their guilt, he multiplied the penances of his religion. He stayed for some time hanging by his feet from a tree; at other times he remained for two days, standing between four burning fires; he repeated the most severe fasts; he went on pilgrimages to the most famous idols; he gave up all that he had; he reduced his body to a most deplorable state of leanness and feebleness, and yet the burden of his sins was in no way lessened. At last, one day, in one of his idolatrous journies, he drew near to a village where some Christians lived, and received from one of them a religious tract, which told him of the Bible, and awakened in him a desire to see and to read it, which by the blessing of God, led him to Calcutta. There he lost his heavy burden, and there he now rejoices in the blessings of adoption into the family of God.

This was what the gospel did for a heathen in India; now its effects will be mentioned upon a papist at Lyons, in France.

There was a woman who also felt the burden of her sins. She spoke to her confessor, who told her to make a pilgrimage to the image of our Lady, at Fourvière, an idol representing the mother of Jesus, which was in high repute at Lyons. The penitent obeyed, but she received no relief; upon which the priest told her, that she must make the pilgrimage in a manner that was more meritorious, more painful to the flesh : and so she climbed up the hill, beafing on her head a stone of great weight. But the weariness of her bones did not lessen the sorrow of her heart; and this she again expressed to her priest, who told her she must make a third pilgrimage, carrying a lighted candle. The candle was bought, and it stood burning in the hand of the poor woman till it was entirely consumed before the idol. Yet she found no relief, and the priest, indefatigable in expedients, secretly advised her to wear about her a little image of the Holy Spirit.

And

The charm was procured, and was faithfully worn. it would doubtless have given place to some other lie, if He whose name is "the Truth," had not put it into the heart of this heathen of Lyons, to speak of her state to a neighbour, whom she knew to be a pious person. The latter, once a Roman Catholic, was become a Christian, under the ministry of an evangelical pastor at Lyons. She had herself gone through the same fears and sorrows which distressed the heart of her neighbour, and she readily explained to her their

nature, and their sure remedy-even the word of God. The penitent listened; the Lord opened her heart as he once did that of Lydia, and the load which burdened her ignorant and misguided conscience, fell at the sound of the same word which had delivered the Christian who instructed her. Free salvation, through faith in Jesus, was made known to her, and the idol was dethroned and covered with confusion, as all those will be who worship or trust in such things. The heathen at Lyons is now a Christian. She feeds, like a sheep of the good Shepherd, under the crook of a faithful pastor, and the priests no longer have access to her.

The fakeer was delivered from his idols by the mild and powerful influence of the gospel. The female at Lyons, a papist or Romanist in her religion, was also drawn away from her idol by the same heavenly message, and Jesus is glorified, both in India and in France, by the same Spirit which in every nation worketh eternal life, through the same imperishable seed of the word of God in the souls of those sinners, who as long as they remain in ignorance of the love of God the Father, manifested by the Holy Spirit, through his Son Jesus Christ, are but idolaters, either worshipping wood and stone, or else their own works.

C. Malan.

I BUILD FOR ETERNITY.

In a recent discussion between two railroad engineers, touching the best construction of arches, one said to the other, "This which you see has stood firm ever since the road was built, and bids fair to stand twenty years longer." "Yes," replied the other," it may last twenty years longer, and you may construct as many such arches as you please, but I build for eternity."

Here, in these four words, is a volume for profitable reflection and inquiry. I build for eternity. How few can literally say this. How few are" the children of light," who are as wise as the builder of an arch, who does his work once for all.

Look at the prosperous worldling, who builds his ships of the gnarled oak, instead of the poplar, which grows rapidly and rots quickly. Oh that he were as spiritually wise! Oh that he would build for eternity! Look at the princely merchant, who builds his warehouses of the everlasting granite, and makes them fire-proof within and without; when will he

66

be persuaded to build for eternity? Look at the capitalist, who is covering whole squares with his proud edifices, of the most durable materials and thorough workmanship; will he ever find time to build for eternity? See that lover of pleasure, who has retired from business, and reared a magnificent palace, and is "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day;" will he ever be persuaded to build for eternity? That rich and prosperous owner of all the farms in sight, who is "pulling down his barns, and building greater;" oh that he would no longer be a fool," " but go to work in earnest, and build for eternity! Do you see that votary of ambition, how he toils to build for himself a temple of fame, which if carried ever so high, may be undermined and fall in a single day? Oh that he would seek for that honour which cometh from God only, and build for eternity! The world abounds with builders of arches, and temples, and palaces, and mansions, and ships, and warehouses, and common dwellings; but of all the ingenious and busy multitudes, how small a proportion build for eternity!

Reader, how is it with thee? Art thou building for eternity? With what materials? upon what foundation? It may not be necessary for thee to build a ship, or a house, or an arch. Perhaps thou hast neither the skill nor the means for doing either, and no strong necessity impels thee. But rich or poor, as thou mayest be, thou must build for eternity, and build soon too, or suffer infinite loss. And remember, there is but one foundation for high and low, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." "He is the rock." "Behold," saith the Lord, "I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone."

Oh how many, even of those who flatter themselves they are building for eternity, have no better foundation than the sand! What terror, what shrieking will there be, when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon their houses which they thought so secure. Reader, reader, look well to the foundation. Build upon the rock, and then wilt thou build for eternity. Build upon Christ the chief corner-stone, with faith and repentance, the gold, silver, and precious stones of the gospel; and then, when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, thou shalt have “ a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' Whatever else thou neglectest, heed this. While many waste their lives in rearing fabrics which a few years or

"I build

centuries at most will level with the dust, so live and so work, that thou mayest be able truly and literally to say, for eternity."

THE JUNIPER TREE.

D. W. M.

THE great prophet Elijah was, we are told, a man subject to like passions as we are: this resemblance we are apt to forget, when we read most parts of the brief, but wonderful words of his history. He was a man very jealous for the Lord God of Israel; a mighty man of valour, strong in faith, when the captain and his fifty came to take him as he sat on Mount Carmel. He was a mighty man of valour, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, when he stood undismayed among the hosts of Baal's worshippers, and of the doubting worshippers of the most high God, and cried aloud with the voice of holy decision, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him." And he stood alone, the solitary survivor, as he said, of the prophets of the Lord, while the prophets of Baal were four hundred and fifty men. In answer to his prayer, "Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again;" the cry of conviction burst forth from the people he prayed for: "The Lord, he is God! the Lord, he is God."

This was Elijah, the great prophet of Israel; these were the scenes of Mount Carmel. But let us follow him a day's journey into the wilderness; let us behold him beneath the juniper-tree, and we see that Elijah was indeed a man of like passions with ourselves. This is a scene consoling to our weak faith; this yields to us a lesson of most comfortable instruction. The solitary prophet of Carmel, amidst a nation of uncertain faith, and exposed to the wrath of the idolatrous queen Jezebel, commands our admiration and excites our awe. Elijah beneath the juniper-tree, attracts our sympathy, and teaches us to rely on the goodness and providence of our God,

When Elijah received the threatening message of the cruel Jezebel, he arose and went for his life, and passed alone a day's journey into the wilderness, and then, weary and faint at heart, sat down under a juniper-tree and requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my

fathers," 1 Kings xix. 4. Here is nature-human nature. Elijah had fled for his life; yet weary, faint, and disappointed, he requests God to take it away: he would die by the hand of God, but not by those of the idolaters. How often downfailing spirits look toward death as a relief, yet shrink from meeting it under some particular circumstances, or in some particular manner: forgetting that our times are in His hand without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground.

Truly may we say, The believer is a paradox-a contradiction to himself—a paradox in all creation; at one time as a feather in the tempest, unmoved; a spark on the ocean, unquenched; a drop in the furnace, unconsumed. So he is when kept by Divine power; when out of weakness he is made strong. Then he is like the sole remaining prophet of the Lord among the priests and worshippers of Baal; but left a little moment to himself, he is like Elijah beneath the juniper-tree, crying "It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life."

Elijah had not gone there in the strength of the Lord, nor at the command of the Lord; he had arisen and gone for his life at the threat of Jezebel, and now he is without strength; he is a man of like passions with ourselves. But is the prophet of the Lord left to the weakness of nature? Is the believer in Jesus left to his feebleness? The one may be a type of the other.

Overcome by weariness, despondency, and sorrow, Elijah "lay and slept under a juniper-tree." The Lord had not answered his request, had not reproved his impatience; the great prophet was as a child now, and he was to be taught as children are. When the disciples, on the stormy sea of Galilee, awoke the Saviour with the impatient and doubting question, "Lord, carest thou not that we perish?" he did not reprove the unkind question; he did not enter into arguments to show them how wrong it was to doubt his care for them. He replied by action, "He arose and rebuked the winds, and said unto the waves, Peace, be still." The prophet, too, doubted God's care for his life; he thought he was not better than his fathers, than the other prophets, who had been slain. The Lord did not reply to him, did not reason with his impatient servant; did not tell him it was not yet enough; did not inform him his ministry was not over, his work was not done, his life was not yet useless; that he was still the object of his care, the subject of his love, upheld by his power, and strong only in his strength. He replied by action; the angel