opening the eyes of my brother to see His dangerous state as a sinner, and I trust to flee from the wrath to come-a blessing far exceeding all earthly gain or preferment.

Wednesday.-Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise His holy name! He has again brought me home in safety, after an absence of three weeks. Great are His mercies to me. I have had many precious opportunities of hearing, and have enjoyed the conversation of God's people, and found it refreshing to my soul. It rejoices me to find a praying people, those that can speak the language of Canaan. I feel sometimes ready to say, Let us

build here tabernacles, one for this saint, and one for that;" but the Lord sees fit to spread them over the earth. Hasten that time, O Lord, when we shall meet in our Father's house above, no more to part!

February 28th.-I have indeed seen much of late of the beauty of Christ, and I trust have felt Him to be my life. O Lord, grant that when I pray, it may be to enjoy Christ; and when I read, it may be to find Christ; and when I hear, it may be to sit at Christ's feet to be taught of Him; and when I come to the Lord's table, it may be to feast on Christ; and if I perform good works, it may be from a principle of life in Christ, that I may not work for life, but from life in Him.

(To be continued.)

HYMN AFTER A SERMON TO THE YOUNG.

GOD of the young Josiah, hear

Hear now Thy people's prayer;
Plant in their youthful hearts Thy fear,

And make their souls Thy care.

Born with a heart that's full of sin,
How quickly caught in every snare;
Pluck them from Satan's every gin,
And make their souls Thy care.

Oh, make them wise to feel their need,
And fly to Christ in prayer,

That by His cross from bondage freed,
Their souls may be Thy care.

Keep them whom grace has plucked from hell
From every hurtful snare;

Oh, may their lives with clearness tell
Their souls are made Thy care.

Lord, grant, when Jesus comes to reign,

Our youths may meet us there,

To triumph in a Saviour slain,
Who made their souls Thy care.

EDITOR.

THE DYING INDIAN BOY.

THE missionary, on visiting him, says, "I found him dying of consumption, in a state of the most awful poverty and destitution, in a small birch-rind covered hut, with nothing but a few fern-leaves under him, and an old blanket over him. After recovering from my surprise, I said, 'My poor boy, I am very sorry to see you in this state; had you let me know, you should not have been lying here.' He replied, 'It is very little that I want now, and these poor people get it for me; but I should like something softer to lie upon, as my bones are very sore.' I then asked him concerning the state of his mind, when he replied, that he was very happy; that Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, had died to save him; and that he had the most perfect confidence in Him. Observing

a small Bible under the corner of his blanket, I said, 'Jack, you have a friend there; I am glad to see that; I hope you find something good there.' Weak as he was, he raised himself on his elbow, held the precious volume in his attenuated hand, while a smile played on his countenance, and slowly spoke, in precisely the following words :-'That, sir, is my dear friend. You gave it me. For a long time I read it much, and often thought of what it told. Last year I went to see my sister, at Lake Winnipeg (about two miles off), where I remained about two months. When I was half-way back through the lake, I remembered that I had left my Bible behind me. I directly turned round, and was nine days by myself, tossing to and fro, before I could reach the house; but I found my friend, and determined that I would not part with it again; and ever since it has been near my breast, and I thought I should like to have it buried with me; but I have since thought I had better give it to you, when I am gone, and it may do some one else good."

NUMBERS.

IN Scripture, we find an even number generally preferred to an odd one, though less exact, for the sake of speaking in round terms. The 430 years in Exod. xii. are in Gen. xv. called 400. By referring to this custom, an apparent discrepancy may be often removed. They who are called 24,000 in Numbers xxv. 9, and 23,000 in 1 Cor. x. 8, were most likely between both, but made less in one and more in the other place, from the same common habit of speaking in round numbers. Compare 2 Sam. v. 5, with 1 Chron. xxix. 27.

MANNER OF BUILDING BY THE FISHERMEN IN THE EAST.

"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."-MATT. vii. 27.

THIS passage of Scripture alludes to the custom of fishermen in the East building their huts in the dry season by the side of the rivers and on beds of sand, which some sudden torrents bore down to the river by the mountain storm sweeping all before it. We may easily conceive with what force such an allusion must strike the mind when addressed to those to whom the alarming scene has been familiar. Among us, with solid buildings and few such calamities, the allusion loses much of its power; but to those who had seen the floating wrecks, the affrighted fishermen, the engulfing perhaps of all that they had accumulated by their industry, and every hope arising from it, lost in one moment, nothing more in the way of imagery was necessary to enforce the solemn truths which our divine Master would here teach.

Belzoni, in his Researches, says, "It so happened, that we were to witness one of the greatest calamities that has occurred in Egypt in the recollection of any one living. The Nile rose this season three feet and a half above the highest mark left by the former inundations, with uncommon rapidity, and carried off several villages, and some hundreds of their inhabitants. I never saw any picture that could give a more correct idea of a deluge than the valley of the Nile in this season. The Arabs had expected an

extraordinary inundation this year, in consequence of the scarcity of water the preceding season, but they did not apprehend it would rise to such a height. They generally erect fences of earth and reeds around their villages, to keep the water from their houses, but the force of the inundation baffled all their efforts. Their cottages being built of earth, could not stand one instant against the current, and no sooner did the water reach them, than it levelled them with the ground. The rapid stream carried off all that was before it: men, women, children, cattle, corn-everything was washed away in an instant, and left the place where the village stood, without anything to indicate that there had ever been a house on the spot."

The particular parts of this parable teach us divers lessons.

1st. That all who expect to go to heaven build a house, and that house is our hopes for heaven. Many never think of this; they build for this world, as if they were to be here always, but take no care to build for another world.

2nd. That there is a Rock where it is safe to build this house upon, and that Rock is Christ. There are many persons who profess they hope to go to heaven, but despise this Rock, and build their hopes upon the sand. Every foundation but Christ is sand. There is a storm coming that will try what our hopes are built upon-try every man's work; and those hopes which foolish builders ground upon anything but Christ, will certainly fail them in a stormy day, and especially in the hour of death and the day of judgment. When a wicked man dies, his expectation perishes. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand.