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THOU Bethlehem Ephratah,

Dear town of ancient birth, What memories make thy hallowed name Endeared o'cr all the carth! A radiance o'er thy ruin waits,

More lustrous than the star That led the magi to thy gates From eastern lands afar.

Away in ages far remote

A solemn scene appears,-
One stands upon that sacred spot
Of Israel's ancient Seers:
The feast is spread, the people wait,
For there is wanting still
A youth, who comes with timid gait
From flock on yonder hill.

His form is young, his face is fair,-
The fairest of the throng;

His voice blerds deepest in the prayer,
And sweetest in the song;

He wonders when the prophet's horn
Is poured above his head,
While grace, more rich by hand Divine,
Is o'er his being shed.

Dear shepherd, warrior, minstrel, king,
The first of Judah's line,

What memories, at thy mention spring,
What glories round thee shine!
Thy songs re-echo in our hearts,
And cheer our pilgrim way,
Until with thee we tune our harps
To Heaven's unbroken lay.

Long ere he lived a pilgrim lone,
To Bethel's site had come,
His head low pillowed on a stone,
He dreams of rest and home;
But other vision is vouchsafed,

The heavens are rent in twain, While angel hosts descending, pace The solemn moonlit plain.

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How oft we follow in our dreams,
What waking we pursue,
Yet wonder at some startling scene,
That we had dream't it true;
But centuries must come and go,
And nations live and die,

Ere that fair dream should be fulfilled,
That cheered the patriarch's eye.

Now clearer than prophetic voice,
Or thrilling minstrel strain,
A sound is heard, 'Rejoice, rejoice,
O'er all Judea's plain!'
The patriarch's vision is fulfilled;
The Heavens are rent, and lo,
The ladder is let down to earth,
Where angels come and go.

What joy and peace to human hearts
Was sweetly borne along,
When glory from celestial choirs

Rose in seraphic song;

And when the night renewed her vail,
As closed the gates of gold,

What wonder if the startling tale
Was by the shepherds told.

Dear Bethlehem Ephratah,

Whilst hallowed memories cling

Around thy ruined walls and towers,
Birth-place of Zion's king;
No more by star or seraph led,
We seek thy sacred shrine,
But mark by faith the manger bed
Of Heaven's best gift Divine.

J. K. M.

HOME LESSONS ON THE OLD PATHS. SACRAMENTS.

WHY do we call the Lord's Supper

the Sacrament, mamma?' asked Charley, after he had seen that ordinance dispensed.

'Sacramentum is the Latin word for the oath of allegiance taken by the Roman soldiers, and it came to be applied to the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, because when we receive baptism, we enlist as soldiers of the Lord Jesus, and take the oath of allegiance to Him, and every time we partake of the Lord's Supper we renew this oath.'

Is Baptism a Sacrament?' asked little

Alice.

'Yes, Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the New Testament Sacraments. Do you know what were the Old Testament Sacraments?'

'Circumcision and the Passover.'

'Circumcision was the ordinance by which the Israelites became members of the Jewish church,-and the Passover the memorial of their deliverance from Egypt; and when the Jews observed these ordinances, they took the same oath of allegiance to the Lord their King, that we do when we observe Baptism and the Lord's Supper.'

'But, mamma,' said Nelly, 'surely a Sacrament means something more than an oath of allegiance.'

'Baptism and the Lord's Supper do signify something more, though the name Sacrament only refers to the oath. What is a Sacrament?'

'A Sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.'

'Sensible signs are something which we can see and touch. What sensible signs are used in the Sacraments?'

'Water in Baptism, and bread and wine in the Lord's Supper.'

'The water and the bread and wine are emblems of Christ, and of the blessings He bestows upon those who receive Him."

'What is sealed, mamma?' asked Charley. "The King's seal attached to a decree confirms or makes it sure. Read Esther viii. 8.'

"Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it

3

er

SACRAMENTS.

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"And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, &c."

They

"This passage shews us how the Sacraments do good to the believer. confirm his faith in the word of God, and so give him strong consolation.'

How do the Sacraments become effectual means of salvation?'

'The Sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them.'

'This answer warns us against thinking that the mere sprinkling of water in Baptism, or the mere eating and drinking of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, can do any good to the soul. These signs have no virtue, no power in themselvesneither has the minister who dispenses them. How then may we get good from the Sacraments?'

"The answer says, only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them."

'But what is it to receive the Sacraments by faith?'

'I don't quite know what it means,

mamma.'

'When a parent receives baptism for his child, is it faith to believe that this rite has made the babe a child of God and an heir of glory?'

'I am sure papa didn't believe that when our baby was baptised, for he told us all to ask God to make baby one of Jesus' lambs.'

'Christ instituted the Sacraments as seals to confirm His own gracious covenant, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly

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to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath." To receive the Sacraments by faith, is to observe them in obedience to Christ's command, and by doing so, to set our own seal to the covenant of graceto give our oath that we receive Christ as our own Saviour and King. There is a passage in Neh. ix. 38, which will shew you what we do when we receive the Sacraments by faith. Read the verse, Charley.'

"And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it."

'When we observe the Sacraments, we publicly confess that we are the Lord's people. We say before the world what the Israelites said to Joshua. The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey. Would it do us any good to say this, if we did not really wish to serve Christ?'

"O no; that would be a great sin; for it would be telling a lie.'

'To observe the Sacraments, if we have no faith in Christ, is to swear falsely. We must first believe in the Lord Jesus, and then confess Him before men.'

"The following covenant was drawn up by the Rev. Philip Henry, for the use of his children, who repeated it to him every Sabbath evening.'

"I take God the Father, to be my chief end and highest good. I take God the Son, to be my Prince and Saviour. I take God, the Holy Ghost, to be my Sanctifier, Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. I take the word of God to be the rule of all my actions. I take the people of God, to be my people in all conditions. I do likewise devote and dedicate myself to God, my whole self, all I am, all I have, all I can do. And this I do deliberately, sincerely, freely, and for ever.

So say, and so do," he would sometimes add," and you are made for ever.' 'I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His causeMaintain the glory of His cross, And honour all His laws.'

REV. JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D.

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REV. JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D.

ON the morning of Saturday, the 3rd of

June, after a short but painful illness, one of the most eminent Biblical scholars of Scotland passed away to a better world. It was known for some time that Dr. Eadie's health had been failing. His appearance at the Synod of his church at Edinburgh, in the third week of May, was hailed as a token that the worst was over. He returned home at the close of the week. On Sabbath he dispensed the Lord's Supper to his flock in Lansdowne Church. On the Monday following he was seized with congestion on the lungs. Throughout the week he lay in a very precarious state.

On the week

following, his symptoms became more alarming. By Wednesday it was known that there was little hope. On Thursday and Friday the tidings became more heavy. On the evening of Friday he was able to express entire resignation to the will of God. Shortly after, he became unconscious. In this state he lay all through his last night on earth.

And when the morn came chill and sad,
And wet with early showers,
His quiet eyelids closed; he had

Another morn than ours.

Dr. Eadie was born at Alva, in Clackmannanshire, in 1813. His father died during his first session at Glasgow College; his mother, during his first session at the Divinity Hall. John Eadie was a good scholar. He was very diligent at his lessons. As a boy, he was marked by aptitude for learning, and assiduity in mastering his tasks. He went about the hillfoots' with his eyes open. He knew all about the birds that found their shelter in the Woodhill.' He was familiar with all the trees that lined the old road from Tillicoultry to Menstrie. No boy knew better where to find the trout pools in the Devon; whilst none could track the footpath to Ben Cleuch, or lead to 'Lady Alva's Web' with greater ease.

His first teacher was Mr Reddock, in the Parish School of Alva. His next teacher was Mr Browning of Tillicoultry. Dr Eadie always spoke with affection of Mr Browning. And the present writer has heard Alva people tell, how when John Eadie preached his first sermon at Tillicoultry, "old Archie" (as Mr Browning was familiary called) sat on the pulpit stair and grat. Eadie was not only an intelligent boy, he had a knack of getting

at other people's intelligence. He scarcely ever met any one without getting some information from them.

He had a splendid memory. Alva people trace his memory back a generation or two. His mother and his grandmother were both great in their power of recalling the sermons to which they had listened. In his boyhood, Eadie's memory was early stored with the Bible, and Erskine's sermons. So accurate was his memory, that up till recent years he did not keep a Diary for entering engagements. With the aid of a 'Belfast Penny Almanack,' he managed to remember all his multifarious appointments.

On one occasion the writer heard Dr Eadie preach in his native village of Alva. In one part of the sermon he began to quote the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. He was not long in getting through the earlier books. The more familiar passages in the Psalms and in Isaiah were by and by repeated. At length, however, when he came to the Minor Prophets, the audience listened with breathless attention. Not one Prophet was omitted. Each came in his own order. At last, when the closing passage was quoted from Malachi, the great audience paused to draw its breath; and a village character, turning to a neighbour in the pew behind him, whispered, 'That's what an A'va bairn can do.'

Not very long after he became a minister in Glasgow, John Eadie was appointed a Professor in the church to which he belonged. He was an eminent Greek scholar. He wrote many learned commentaries. But what may interest 'Dayspring' readers most, he wrote a book called Lectures on the Bible to the Young.' The corner stone of Dr. Eadie's life and works, was his love to the Bible. He studied languages, that he might understand the Bible. He read learned authors, that he might explain the Bible. He wrote a Dictionary of the Bible, that he might communicate to Sabbath School Teachers and others, what scholars knew about the Bible. He took a great interest in the new translation of the Bible. His last published work was a History of the English Bible.

Let our readers learn, like young Eadie, to love the Bible. Let them store it in their memory. Let them learn everything they can that will throw light upon it. Let them strive to communicate to others what they know about it. Above all, let them seek to carry out the Bible in their daily life.

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STORIES OF THE EARLY REFORMERS--JAMES RENWICK.

IN
N the beautiful cemetery of Stirling,
close to the Castle rock, and looking
out on that rich green carse watered by the
Allan and the Teith, you may see a modern
statue of a figure leaning on a sword, his
cloak blown back, his open Bible in his
hand, and the face so mild and beautiful
and stedfast that if you look once you will
look at it many times. It is a youthful
face, with sadness over its peace-the face
of James Renwick, the last of the martyrs
for the Covenant.

And in many ways the life of Renwick
transcends in interest all the others.
James Renwick was born February 15th,
1662, in Dumfriesshire, in the beautiful
parish of Glencairn, where three streams
meet among the hills. His parents were
poor, but good; serving God in their lowly
rank, and living blameless lives.
mother had other children, who died in

His

their infancy. For which, when she was pouring forth her motherly grief, her husband used to comfort her, with declaring that he was well satisfied to have children, whether they lived or died young or old, provided they might be heirs of glory. With this she could not attain to be satisfied; but she had it for her exercise to seek a child from the Lord, that might not only be an heir of glory, but might live to serve Him in his generation. Wherefore, when James was born, she took it as an answer of prayer; and reputed herself, under manifold engagements, to dedicate him to the Lord.'

And her son grew up into thoughtful, earnest youth, and mused among his native hills, questioning the meaning of his life, questioning his destiny; and with strange. suppositions of so many invisible worlds, above and beneath, with which he was

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