associated with his religion, as well as his country. All the miracles that had signalized his national history-the memory of ancestral worth -the fondly cherished hope of the Messiah, dearer than any memory, and brighter than any other hope—the exclusiveness of his national character-all conspired to awaken patriotic feelings. Imagine then his sufferings, when a down-trodden exile, he hung his harp upon the willows of Babylon, and hushed his song in the profound silence of a burdened bosom!

If such be the poetic claims of this volume, it must be obvious that its literary merits are above all estimation. Did all literary men conform their writings to this divine model, how healthful an influence would be exerted! The time will come when this will be the case. Already some of the greatest works of human genius have been imbued with its spirit. Milton's immortal poem "Paradise Lost "-Dr. Young's "Night Thoughts "—various pieces by Cowper-Pollok's "Course of Time," and other poems, have sprung from the Bible.

Let us not, however, in our contemplation of its literary excellence, forget that the great object of the inspired volume is, to make us wise unto salvation. To teach us the path to heaven, and to lead us thither, is its chief end. For this, its prophets foretold events, its poets sung, its historians wrote. For this, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered and died. For this, we live. Our destiny is eternity! Shall we not then prize this blessed volume-so rich in its promises, so holy in its principles, so perfect in its revelations? Shall we not press it to our bosoms as we walk to the grave? A beautiful incident is narrated of the love of a blind girl in France for her Bible. It is as follows:

THE BLIND GIRL AND HER BIBLE.

At the last anniversary of the French and Foreign Bible Society, held in Paris, the secretary related the following interesting fact:

"That interesting person who now lives in a village not far from my house," writes a Christian friend, "had lost in her early age the little sight which the bad conformation of her eyes had left her after birth. Her parents, however, had succeeded, while she was yet a child, to make her discern her letters by the use of very large characters; but, for a long time past, she had not been able to distinguish the letters of the largest show-bills. She can hardly now make the distinction between light and darkness. Gifted with intelligence and skill, she rejoiced when she learned that God had put it into the hearts of some pious men to offer his word to the blind; and, as soon as I was enabled to procure for her the Gospel according to Mark, issued from your presses, she began to study it alone with great earnestness. After a few days, she could, to my astonishment, read about a page; but she was greatly discouraged on account of the slowness of her progress. Her means are very limited; and, obliged to work for her living, she does a little of everything. Alone in a small chamber which she rents, she attends herself to all the necessaries of her life, and cultivates even a little piece of ground, out of which she contrives to raise some vegetables. All this obliterates her sense of touch, which, therefore, is far less delicate than that of other blind persons, who less skilful, or in easier circumstances, are not obliged to have recourse to manual labour. One day, the idea crossed the mind of this poor girl, that the sensibility of her fingers would be excited were the skin taken off; and immediately (such is her desire to

read, and chiefly to read the word of God, which he has taught her tổ love), she takes a penknife and begins to skin off the ends of her fingers. But, alas! sensibility excites pain; her touch is not improved; and soon the sores, which succeed to the thick skin which she has tried to scrape off, become for our poor sister an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuit of her study.

"She tries yet, however, but in vain; she must now give it up. In a moment of despair she takes up the book, and pressing it against her lips, wetting it with her tears, thus addresses it: 'Farewell, farewell, sweet word of my heavenly Father, food of my soul! I must part with thee!' But what is her surprise! her lips, more delicate than her fingers, have discerned the form of the letters; she reflects; she tries; åt last she cannot doubt any more; she has certainly read, 'Gospel according to Mark!' Her soul, overflowing with gratitude, pours out her thanks before the throne of her Father in heaven. She lies down to rest. All night she perused with her lips the holy book, and everywhere she discovers, in a few moments, not only the form of the letters, but also the sense of the phrases. Some days after I went to see her. I tied a handkerchief over her eyes to be sure that she could not see; and the book being open, she read, spelling, but without making a fault. now knows Mark by heart, or very nearly so.

She

"After having read this, do you not hear the voice of the Lord passing, as it were, over ages to come and repeat to that poor sister these same words which he spake to Moses, saying, 'Who hath made man's mouth? or, who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I, the Lord?' And now that the hour of deliverance has arrived for her, do you not hear her voice also exclaiming with that of David, 'O God, thou art When I remember thee upon my God! my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.""

And now, suffer us to commend this holy book to your affectionate regard. Read it prayerfully, attentively, thoroughly; practise its instructions—and when your parents are laid low in the repose of the grave-when the voices that now cheer you are hushed-when the gay hopes of life are departed, and the warm impulses of youth have gonethe light of its truths will fall upon your pathway, and the joys of heaven will dwell within you. To die will then be to sleep in Jesus. Blessed are such dead! Thrice blessed! Of all who thus sleep in Jesus, we may well say with the poet Montgomery:

"The storm that wrecks the wintry sky,

No more disturbs their sweet repose,
Than summer evening's latest sigh,
That shuts the rose."

THE BROKEN KEY.

ON a fine summer day a minister was walking to the village of W————, in order to declare the glad tidings of salvation to the inhabitants. He had arrived at the summit of a hill which commands the view of a large valley, studded with villages and hamlets, corn and pasture land, with

clumps of trees scattered in profusion over the whole, when his attention was arrested by a woman standing by a small cottage which overlooks the vale. As he drew nigh, she exclaimed, "O Sir, Sir, I am glad to see you! How are you? and how is your family ?" But before he had time to answer, she continued, "Have you such a thing as a key about you? for I have broken my key, and cannot get one to open my drawers to get what I want out of them. Oh! what shall I do? I want some things so badly!" The minister, replying to the latter part of the request, said he had no key about him; and if he had, it might not open the lock. This was bad news to the woman, as she thought few were without keys of some kind. She stood making lamentation for her key, saying she knew not what was to be done without it. While looking round her, to see if any one was coming who might have a key to open her drawers, the minister asked her if she had ever heard of a key to open heaven; in plain words, did she know the way by which she was to get to that better country; for many missed heaven by trying to open it by a wrong key, or a broken key, and cried at last, "Lord, Lord, open

unto us!"

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Ay ay," cried the poor woman, "I know how we are to get heaven open very well: I am old enough to know all about that. If we earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, walk up to that we profess, pay what we owe, say our prayers, keep the ten commandments, and fear God, that surely will open heaven for us; and they that can say that, can say a great say. And now, Sir, don't you think I have told you right?"

The woman, from the confident way she spoke, seemed to have no doubt that she was right, and had the key to open heaven at hand. After a pause, the minister shook his head, and said, "Ah! my friend, these things you mention will no more open heaven than your broken key will open your drawers; for among all the things you have mentioned, you have forgotten the main thing. I assure you that your best deeds, hard workings, prayers and tears, will never, never open heaven. You must get another key." Amazed and astonished that her wisdom and knowledge were called in question, and that such a death-blow should be given to her good works, and that by one who, she had reason to think, knew what was right, having often heard him preach, she exclaimed, with surprise, "What, Sir! will good works not open heaven to us at last? What can I do, if the things I mentioned won't do? What did I forget in what I said ?"

My friend, you forget the Lord Jesus Christ, what he did and suffered for sinners. It was Jesus who opened a new and living way, by what he did in the place of the guilty; it is by his atoning sacrifice that heaven is opened to sinners, and by faith in his atonement we get to that heavenly land. The word of God, in Isaiah xxii. 22, declares, And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder (that is, Jesus); so he shall open, and none shall shut; and shut, and none shall open.' Now you know that our sins have shut heaven's gates; and God proclaimed, in case any one should try to open them by their works, By the works of the law no flesh living can be justified.' You know, if works could open heaven, it would not have been said, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them:' it would have been said, 'They rest from their labours, and their works go before them, to open heaven for them.' There

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fore Jesus, my friend, has the key, that is, the power; for he has power and authority in heaven and earth. He has the key of knowledge; he knows all his people's persons, their cases, and cares; he has the key of authority and government in his church; he fixes ordinances, bestows gifts, and dispenses blessings, as it pleases him; he opens the door of opportunity to hear the word, and gives ministers the door of utterance; he opens the heart to receive the word, as you know Lydia's heart was opened to attend and hear the word gladly. Therefore you must throw away the broken key of duties; for what duty do you perform, but there is imperfection, and consequently, sin in it? Pray to Jesus to open your heart to receive his word, and depend only upon his word, and upon his atonement, which alone can give solid comfort."

"Ay, ay," said the woman, "I see what you mean now. It is Jesus alone we are to trust in, not in our works; and it is by what he has done that heaven is opened. But, Sir, are works of no use then?"

"My friend, they are of use, as a needful evidence of our love to Jesus; for, if our faith in him is real, it will be attended with, and produce, good works and a holy life. For when we believe in him, we love him; and when we love him, we obey him. Now I entreat you to go to Jesus, believe in his word, and cry with David of old, 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' Let the broken key remind you of your inability to get to heaven by your own deeds. May it remind you to see the key I have been telling you of; then you will be happy; you will have unfolded to you treasures unspeakable and full of glory, treasures out of God's fulness; and when you die you will, through Jesus, be admitted into heaven, to dwell with him for evermore!"

THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF PERFECT LOVE.

Ir is said of the prophet Daniel, that he was greatly beloved of the Lord. This perhaps is the highest character attainable by man in the present world. The divine regards do not fasten in this intense manner on any but those who, like Daniel, possess an excellent spirit—a spirit in which rectitude, wisdom, faith, humility, holiness, and love, permanently reside. "I love them," says Jehovah, "that love me." Daniel loved the Lord with sincere, constant, supreme affection; and the Lord loved him with complacency and delight. His love was lively in its regards, rich in its enjoyment, powerful in its protection, unspeakable in its joys. It descended upon Daniel in early life in gracious influences and spiritual blessings. It preserved him from apostacy when a captive in Babylon, in the midst of a superstitious, idolatrous people. It watched over his path and guarded his interest when cruel envy was plotting his destruction, and dire malevolence was shooting her poisoned arrows at his reputation, his interest, his life. It protected him in a den of lions, and gave him a triumph over all his enemies. Such is the importance of being greatly beloved of the Lord.

A similar statement is made in reference to the apostle John. He is designated the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was the Redeemer's peculiar favourite, and he seems to have dived the deepest into the essence

and spirituality of true religion. His addresses to the children of God are most tender and pathetic, breathing sublime strains of fervent love. This holy affection had full possession of his soul, and the expression of it flowed freely and abundantly both from his lips, his life, and his pen. It was the atmosphere in which he lived, and moved, and had his being; the theme of his loftiest contemplation; the subject on which he delighted to expatiate. Hence we find him explaining its nature, pointing out its objects, its influences, and effects, its advantages, its excellency, and perfection.

Love is a divine principle implanted in heaven-born souls by the Spirit of the Lord. It is naturally vigorous; and when watered with the rich dews of grace, and fostered by a constant and devout attendance on the ordinances of God, it increases mightily, and abounds in all knowledge and in all judgment, sweetly and powerfully constraining its happy possessors to follow their Divine Master through good report and through evil report, labouring to approximate to his high and holy example. Now perfect love is the same great and sublime principle, in the full vigour of its operations, diffusing an enlivening, sanctifying influence through the soul, ennobling and elevating it to the full height of Christian purity and perfection. It gives clearness to the understanding, flexibility to the will, tenderness to the conscience, chastity to the desires, purity and order to the affections. It diffuses itself through all the graces of the Divine Spirit implanted in the soul, and through the whole train of pious actions. It is the parent and promoter of everything amiable and excellent in the Christian character, blighting and withering, and tearing up by the roots those noxious weeds which would otherwise injure and deform the garden of the Lord. On this account it is said, that those who dwell in love dwell in God, and God Almighty dwells in them, as in a consecrated temple. According to his ancient promise, he is their God, and they are his people; and continuing to walk in his fear on earth, they shall reign with him in heaven, where there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for

evermore.

Perfect love is humble. It lays the soul at the feet of Jesus, and bids it feast on the fulness of God. Pride is natural to man. It attaches itself to him in all circumstances, and on all occasions, and, alas! too often mingles in his most sacred exercises, rendering them less acceptable to God, and less profitable both to himself and others. But perfect love, when it takes full possession of the soul, subdues and eradicates the pernicious principles of vanity and selfishness, and establishes the reign of rectitude and meekness, purity and peace. The disciple now becomes like his Saviour and Lord, who was meek and lowly in heart. He is clothed with humility as with a cloak. Self-dependance is annihilated. Boasting is excluded. Communion with God is most intimate and delightful. Christ is honoured. The operations of his power are admired and celebrated. Grace reigns in the heart of the humble believer, efficiently influencing him in all he does. Those who live on the border of Immanuel's land are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of the Lord's house, and drink of the river of his pleasures; to them he is the fountain of life, and in his light they see light. Possessing the mind, they exhibit the image of Him who loved them so much as to lay down his life a ransom for them.

It is patient, enduring all things, and hoping all things. It inspires holy confidence in God, and causes resignation and tranquillity to pervade