x. 10,) we rejoice to welcome him a member of the Church of Christ. PRAYER. O Blessed Jesus, we adore the depths of that love which made Thee a willing sacrifice-"Made sin for us that we might be made righteous in Thee." We praise thee that by thy stripes thy people are healed. O raise up many, like Philip, to exalt thy glorious name, May many, who with us learn thy Scripture yet understand it not, be brought to know the value of that only Name whereby they can be saved, and by the Spirit's blessed power be enabled to go on with us in our way rejoicing. Second Week's portion, verse 39 to chapter ix. verse 5. Philip leaves him; the Eunuch goes on his way. Saul on the way to Damascus. Verse 39. Our sorrow to part with our Ethiopian Brother is lessened by the assurance that he went on his way "rejoicing," as one of those who knew "the joyful sound." (Psalm lxxxix. 15-18.) Church-History informs us that he planted a flourishing Church in his native country. Verse 1, 2. This High Priest was probably Caiaphas, who had so great a hand in the death of Christ, whose authority this persecutor desires to put to death His followers, contemptuously styled, 'any of this way.' Verse 3, 4. Man's extremity is God's opportunity;' the Saints at Damascus at their wits end, through fear of Saul's rage, are suddenly delivered; and the slaughter-breathing persecutor permitted to reach the top of his rage; to approach the very gates of the city, is suddenly cast to the earth; and that voice, which just before had been raised against the saints, now enquires, "Who art thou, Lord?" "What hath God wrought!". Third week's portion, verse 6 to 12. Circumstances attending Saul's conversion. Verse 6. Persons under soul-trouble are glad to do any thing to get peace with God. Verse 9. The arrows of conviction shot too deep to permit the common enjoyment of life, till some balm was found. Verse 11. The Lord encourages Ananias to go to him. by telling him, "Behold he prayeth." Saul, as a Pharisee, had, no doubt, made many a long prayer before this; but in the judgment of Christ, he had never prayed before. Be assured you have never prayed, unless you have felt yourselves miserable sinners, and seen the want of Jesus as your Saviour. Verse 13. Ananias hesitates about this new convert; talks of what he had been before, as if that were a reason why there should be no faith in what he was now; but oh, blessed be God, the hardest heart---the most darkened mind; all must give way before the power of Almighty grace. Fourth week's portion, 16--22. Ananias comforts him; he is baptized, and preaches Christ. Verse 17. Though Christ converted him immediately by himself, yet he is pleased to use Ananias to carry on the work. Happy they who under spiritual troubles have such guides as Ananias; yet God will find means to carry on his own work. Verse 20. He only is qualified to preach Christ as the Son of God who knows, as Saul, His Almighty power by the work of grace in his own heart. PRAYER. LORD we praise Thee for that Almighty grace by which Thou didst subdue the persecuting Saul, and make him a Preacher of that Gospel whose light has shined even to us. O manifest thyself with the same power to many that still rebel against thy Gospel, and despise thy people. May there be many monuments of that power brought in from among those that unite with us in learning thy word, that we may join together at last to magnify Thee as sinners saved by grace. POETRY. THE NEW YEAR. THOU coming year, what message fleet Is writ on thee or deeds of blood, What summons do thy courses bear It is not thus with curious eye, That mortals weak should seek to scau; It is the creature's bliss to 'bide, Yet one thing still this op'ning year May bid us in our mem'ry bear Of all that shall betide Christ only will make all things clear, And bright, and blest, and free from fear; He is the Sun which still shall shine On the year's rise, and its decline,- Have Him, and all shall work for well, Tho' seeming first of ill to tell; All wafting to a glorious shore, And ofttimes tribulation more, L. N. N. Rev. H. A. SIMCOE, (Penlicale-Press,) Cornwall. "By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens."-Job xxvi. 13. WHAT a spectacle of grandeur, glory, and mystery is presented to the observer of the heavens on a clear winter's night! Always splendid and sublime as this sight is, the frosty atmosphere causes every star to sparkle with even brighter lustre than usual: while the intense darkness which now pervades the firmament in the absence of the moon, gives a brilliancy to the whole scene greater than is perceived at any other season. In the East glows the noble sign of the Zodiac, called by Astronomers, the Lion. The West is enlivened by the presence of Jupiter, the largest of the planets, while higher in the heavens, and almost over our heads, glitter the lovely groups of the Pleiades and Hyades, forming part of the sign of the Bull, which is now also still more remarkable by the fiery aspect of Mars, the fourth planet of our Solar System. C But the most striking part of the heavens is the South, where Orion, with his glorious band of diamond-like orbs, blazes forth the most brilliant constellation of the heavens! Surrounded also as this constellation is with several others of great splendor, the beholder may now stand lost in admiration at the most magnificent view which the starry firmament affords, especially when he is told that it is visible to all the habitable world! In looking round upon this gorgeous spectacle, we cannot wonder that the Almighty himself should have challenged the attention of man to it as one of the noblest exhibitions of his power and greatness;* and who can help being amazed when he casts his eyes again over yonder vast expanse which almost appears, to use Milton's expression, 'powdered with stars?' more especially when he is informed by the discoveries of the telescope, that that luminous part of the heavens, called the Milky Way,' is a vast assemblage of stars, too small, or too distant, to be visible to the naked eye. The number of the heavenly bodies appears at first sight to confound calculation; and though science has numbered and arranged them, yet how is 6 6 * Job xxxviii. 31, 32. The expressions used here refer to the particular seasons of the year, when the sun rises about the same time as these signs. The Bands of Orion' are descriptive of Winter, as the Sweet influences of Pleiades' are of Spring; the latter of these signs is better known by the name of the Seven Stars,' and Orion is easily observed by the three remarkable stars usually termed'Orion's Belt:' by the Arabians, Jacob's Staff.' Arcturus, perhaps, ought to have been rendered 'the Great Northern Sign,' i. c. the Great Bear,' commonly called Charles's Wain,' and sometimes the Plough.' Mazzaroth, according to Chrysostom, means the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and our marginal version adopts this explanation. · 6 |