Thus was laid to his rest the first soldier in that most glorious army, whose ranks, composed of brave hearts of every nation, and kindred, and tribe, are scattered now over the wide earth. God grant there may be found some few amid the multitude as worthy to do battle and to die for the great "Captain of our Salvation, as the Messenger sent to prepare the people for His coming!"

But yet, dear reader, it is not warriors ready to fight to the death in His service, that are chiefly wanted now! Rarely among us is the sacrifice of blood required. I would my voice might take unto itself wings, and penetrate not the remote wildernesses— not to the heathen nations beyond seas, but unto fastnesses more difficult to penetrate! into the cold dead hearts which have so long heard the Word in vain-into the recesses of homes where fathers toil early and late without ceasing, enduring anxieties, cares, and hardships incredible, and all to lay up for their children stores of perishing wealth.

I would my voice might come unto the mothers whose pride is in the beauty, and grace, and talents of their children, that they might be constrained to think, if worldly honour and success, and the applause of perishing sinners, is the best good they can hope to secure for their offspring. I would I might approach the children hedged in by the almost impenetrable wall of custom and fashion of the world, that I might entreat them to think much of that mission on which they are sent !

Thou father! hast thou taught thy sons to be messengers of Truth to the world? Through the dark paths which they must tread, what light hast thou put into their hands to guide them? Hast thou sent them forth to prepare their brethren, as much as they may, for the Saviour's second coming? or hast thou read of Zacharias in vain?

And thou mother, for what hast thou prepared thy daughters? Hast thou made them beautiful and graceful, and taught them to

strive to please and charm mankind-to dazzle and shine in the scenes of fashion, when thou mightest have made them beaconlights to save the "tempest-tossed ?" or hast thou sent them missionaries into the world, to guide, and bless, and teach?

And ye children-young men and maidens, what is it ye are living for? Folly, and pleasure, and fame, and gold? Is it to shine in the dance-to grace the festival-to win names of honour to be recorded on the "scrolls of fame?" Are ye scorning the builders of the Safety Ark, and turning deafly away from the voice of the Messenger.

Ye cannot remember, ye cannot plant brilliant flowers on the broad and pleasant way, and at the same time make straight the paths of the Lord; neither may ye stand idle all the day. Which will ye choose, God, or Mammon? Messengers of Jesus, or of the Evil One?-which will ye prove? Oh, may the Holy Spirit that dwelt in and inspired John the Baptist help you to decide, and to-day, if ye will hearken unto my voice-harden not your

hearts!

XIX.

THE FAMILY AT BETHANY.

BY REV. S. D. BURCHARD.

"Behold the place where Jesus often dwelt,
While soft compassion all his spirit moved;
And friends who gloried in his presence felt
The joy of loving, and of being loved."

MANY of the places mentioned in Scripture are associated with some signal event which has hallowed them in the memory of the good. That event may have been transient; perhaps the outgush of some terrible emotion, or the uplifting of the arm of Deity, either for deliverance or destruction. Be it what it may, —a miracle of mercy or a manifestation of wrath,-the place of its occurrence is an object of interest to the succeeding generations of men. What a rush of old memories, venerable as time and awful as the treadings of the Almighty, comes over the traveller as he stands upon Sinai or Horeb, dark, rugged, and awe-inspiring! Less terrific, but not less hallowing, are the associations which cluster around Carmel, Hermon, and Mount Zion, "where the Lord commanded his blessing, even life for ever more." These places may be bleak and wild, barren of every vestige of modern art, but they possess a charm which no romance can equal or poetry describe. Dearer and still more attractive memory-places are those rendered sacred by the miracles and ministry of Him who was God manifest in the flesh.

In the lapse of time and in the unfolding mysteries of Providence, we see the star which had hung over the darkness of Eden in the form of a distant and doubtfully interpreted promise,