Now from the means of grace. They read the Scriptures with new eyes, hear the Gospel with new ears, pray with new affections. They are now united to Christ, and from Him derive nourishment, strength, and fruitfulness. they are interested in glorious promises, they enjoy great privileges, they are meet for heaven. These quickened souls love Christ, love their fellowChristians, and love the service of God. This change lays all who experience it under vast obligations to glorify God; for it is a wonderful manifestation of the riches of His grace. Here let us see the glorious work of the Holy Spirit, the Divine origin of Christianity, and the persons of whom a Christian church ought to be composed. Has the Spirit quickened you? Then you trust in God, love God, obey God, delight in God, serve God. He is the centre towards which your soul moves. Holy Spirit, quicken me. ALONE WITH JESUS. H. H. It was David's experience, "My meditation shall be sweet." God loves us to be alone with Him. This is our privilege as Christians, whom He has redeemed with His most precious blood. To cultivate communion with the Father of our spirits, to enter into His secret pavilion, to enjoy His smile, to feed on the hidden manna, to drink of the river of His pleasure, is our blessedness and daily portion. If we long for eminent piety, we must give much time to secret meditation. It is then, especially, that we feel the emptiness of all earthly things, and the deep reality of spiritual wealth. Jesus meets us as a friend, and opens to our wandering minds the unsearchable riches of His grace. His presence gives a foretaste of heavenly glory. We are conscious of the fact that we are conversing with Him before whom angels veil their faces. Our intellect is capable of the highest enjoyment, in proportion as we attain to close intimacy with the adorable Saviour. Our faculties are given, not merely to be spent on incessant calls of daily duty, or the gratification of sensual delight, but to acquire enlarged views of the Divine character, to know more of His glorious perfections, to enter on a deep and searching examination of revealed truth, to explore the hidden mine of wealth, and to gain possession of those VOL. XVI. treasures which will make us rich unto salvation. It is wonderful how much will be revealed unto us of the wisdom of God in redemption, and the power of His grace, as we yield our hearts to meditate on the all-glorious theme of his unchangeable love. The lower we sink before Him, the higher shall we rise in the spiritual life. The plant can only thrive and grow through the action of air, light, and water-all are needful for its progress, its health, its fruitfulness. We have also need to be much with Jesus in secret, to receive the hallowed influence of His Spirit, the manifestations of His love, His guidance, and counsel, to be fitted for great usefulness in the sphere we occupy. It may be owing to the limited time given to meditation that we see in the present day so little good comparatively effected in the churches of our land. Revivals of religion are now the rule; old divines, who wrote and taught so wondrously, and turned the world upside down, traced up their success to the hours they spent in the closet with God. Sowing to the Spirit in secret must invariably precede the widescattering of the seed of the kingdom, to ensure its free course, and an abundant harvest. We find how often our blessed Saviour retired for prayer, how long He continued in that holy exercise, and even spent whole nights in hallowed communion. Jacob wrestled with God until the morning before he prevailed, and obtained the blessing. The secret of great spiritual prosperity with individuals, as with churches, is to be found in retirement from the world, and drawing near to God. Meditation and prayer are the best preparation for success in every undertaking. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God; my expectation is from Him." Our usefulness in every grade of life, in the church, the world, the social, and the family circle, depends mainly on the time we devote to spiritual communion with God. We can only expect much fruit from our labours when we sow deep in humiliation at the foot of the cross. As we sow, in proportion we shall reap. This is the governing rule which should form the basis of our actions day by day. The nearer we live in meditation and prayer with Jesus, the more intensely will our minds be fixed on His finished work, and the glories of His redemption. We are so apt to lose the spiritual discern 2 G ment, to abate in our warmth of affection by contact with the world, to have our feelings deadened to eternal realities, to lose the savour of His presence, to be lulled by the calm of earthly joys, to be drawn aside by the various and ever-shifting scenes of time, that we find it indispensable to the maintenance of our peace and assurance of our faith, to be much alone with our Saviour. There is danger to our spirituality, simply from our association with the things which perish, unless we love the secret of His tabernacle. Our faith is apt to languish, and become feeble from prolonged care, anxiety, or peculiar trials, under which we almost sink, as if we could see no ray of hope or beam of light to irradiate our path. It is then that, alone with Jesus, we can unbosom all to Him who. is intimately acquainted with every rising sorrow, and who can still and calm the mind under the deepest and keenest anguish. He sees even the bush on fire, yet not consumed. He discovers the hitherto strong faith becoming feeble, and he comes to our relief, and says, "Fear not." He speaks, and, behold! there is a great calm. There is no voice like His-so full of power and consolation in the darkest day of trial. All is well, when He whispers to the heart, "It is I, be not afraid." He soothes the aching brow, and silences the inward fear. He speaks, "Be still, and know that I am God." He is an unchangeable Friend, a Brother born for adversity. To Him we can appeal and unburden the whole weight which overwhelms the mind, when we could not venture to make known the secret grief within to our nearest and dearest friend. Alone with Jesus, and this proves to us a time of strength, a stronghold in the day of trouble, a refuge from the storm, like the shadow of a rock in a weary land. The more intimate our fellowship, the deeper will be our confidence, our repose, our rest. Our faith will be invigorated the more we live upon His fulness, and draw from this inexhaustible source. We must make no reserves---Christ must be our confidant; we must unbosom all to Him; He must be all in all. Lastly, the more we retire for communion with Him, the better shall we be prepared for the final struggle, when we shall quit the mortal for the immortal, exchange the present for the invisible and eternal state. It will require strong confidence of our love and faith in Jesus to carry us in peace, with deep and holy tranquillity, through the dark valley. As we receive the rays of light from the brightness of the Sun of Righteousness in our oft intercourse with Himself, we shall live under the cloud of His glory habitually, advancing from strength to strength, from grace to grace, in the exercise of faith, and enjoyment of His smile and presence, until summoned to appear before Him; and then it will be made manifest that if we have been faithful unto death, He will fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and welcome us to our eternal home. Let us more and more feel the blessedness of being alone with Jesus now, then He will not be ashamed of us at His appearance, when He will present us faultless before His throne with exceeding joy. Tiverton, September, 1859. Biblical Illustration. MOUNT ARARAT. "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."-GEN. viii. 4. OUR route carried us almost to the very base of Mount Ararat. This mountain has two summits, one of which is considerably higher than the other; and as it is always covered with snow, it must have an elevation of more than 10,000 feet. A French traveller has made it 16,000 feet. It is connected with a chain of mountains that runs westerly; and although these mountains of themselves have a considerable height, yet, in the vicinity of F. S. G. the towering Ararat, they appear only like so many hills. The view of a majestic mountain is always interesting, but the historical recollections of the one now before us produced sensations which we can scarcely describe. -Smith and Dwight's Journal in Persia, January, 1831. WASHING THE FEET. "Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree."-GEN. Xviii. 4. "Jesus riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded him self. After that, He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." JOHN xiii. 4, 5. “WHILE at Ramleh," Dr. Robertson observes, our youthful host now proposed, in the genuine style of ancient Oriental hospitality, that a servant should wash our feet. This took me by surprise, for I was not aware that the custom still existed here. Nor does it, indeed, towards foreigners, though it is quite common among the natives. We gladly accepted the proposal, both for the sake of the refreshment and of the spiritual illustration. A female Nubian slave accordingly brought water, which she poured upon our feet, over a large shallow bason of tinned copper; kneeling before us, and rubbing our feet with her hands, and wiping them with a napkin. It was one of the most gratifying minor incidents of our whole journey."-Biblical Researches, vol. iii., p. 26. LOCUSTS. "To-morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast, and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field."-EXOD. X. 4, 5. "A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them."-JOEL ii. 3. MR. WEIR, of the Glasgow Missionary Society, writes from Africa:-"Whilst the small-pox is sweeping away many of the adult population, the locusts are marching through the land like a host of armed men. All are endeavouring to divert the current aside from our gardens; but after the labour of many days, we have not got these intruders turned as many hundred yards out of their way. So numerous are they that, with one tread of my foot, I found that I had killed forty. Any attempt to destroy them is in vain. Even the fires which we kindled to stay their progress were put out by their continual advances. In a few minutes, they stripped my garden of every vestige of vegetation. Young fruit trees were eaten down to the very level of the ground."-Scottish Missionary Register for April, 1843. TRIBE OF ASHER. "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." Jacob's blessing. -GEN. xlix. 20. 66 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil." Moses's blessing.-DEUT. xxxiii. 24. ON the former of these passages Mr. Mc Cheyne observes, "It is supposed that in this expression there is an allusion not only to the fertility of the country allotted to Asher, but to the polypus fish found along the shore of Mount Carmel in that tribe, from which the famous purple dye was anciently extracted." On the latter passage: "In the region assigned to this tribe," it is observed, "the sides, and even the summits of the hills were seen sprinkled over with vigorous olive trees. Some of these hills were, no doubt, a thousand feet high, yet their tops were frequently crowned with groves of olives, showing how fertile and how suitable for the cultivation of the olive this range must have been in former days."-Narrative of Deputation. GRAPES OF ESHCOL. "And they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron. And they came unto the brook (or valley) of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes; and they bare it between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs." -NUMB. xiii. 22, 23. SPEAKING of the neighbourhood of Hebron, the deputation add, "We were told that bunches of grapes from these vineyards sometimes weigh six pounds, every grape of which weighs six or seven drams." Sir Moses Montefiore mentioned that he got here a bunch of grapes about a yard in length. Dr. Keith, in his "Land of Israel," confirms the same fact. "I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and (or even) Lebanon."-DEUT. iii. 25. Ir is a noble range of mountains, well worthy of the fame it has so long maintained. It is cultivated in a wonderful manner by the help of terraces, and is still very fertile. We saw, on some of its eminences, 2,000 feet high, villages and luxuriant vegetation; and on some of its peaks, 6,000 feet high, we could discern tall pines against the clear sky beyond. Sannin is regarded as the highest peak of Lebanon. There is a deep ravine, that seems to run up the whole way, and Sannin rises, at its highest extremity, to the height of 10,000 feet. The snow was gleaming in many of its highest crevices, reminding us of the prophet's question, "will a man leave the snow of Lebanon?" (Jerem. xviii. 14.) In coming through the bazaar (at Beyrout) we had seen large masses of it exposed to sale. Not far from Sannin, the ancient cedars are found, a memorial of the glory of Lebanon. Cedars of smaller size are found also in other parts of the mountain. There are nearly 200,000 inhabitants in the village of Lebanon, a population exceeding that of all the rest of Palestine. Journal of Deputation. CEDARS OF LEBANON. "The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted."-PSA. civ. 16. THE cedars of Solomon stand on the summit of a mountain, overlooking the numerous valleys that slope away beneath them in every direction. We approached within five hundred paces, when we found the snow come nearly up to our horses' shoulders. There we alighted, and seated ourselves on a rock to The contemplate these wonderful trees. prophet Ezekiel speaks of the cedars of Eden as celebrated above all others in Lebanon, in his time (Ez. xxxi. 9); and the Arabs in our day entertain the most extravagant veneration for the identical trees upon which we were gazing. They believe implicitly that they have existed from the time of Solomon, and that they are endowed with a never-ending principle of life, by which they are preserved in all ages. The inhabitants of Lebanon, from a great distance, climb up hither annually, in the month of June, and celebrate mass under the branches of these majestic trees. One cannot imagine a more appropriate temple wherein to worship the God whose dwellingplace is the boundless universe.-Lamartine's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Dr. Keith says, "Several of these trees are from ten to twelve feet in diameter at the trunk." The mountains of Lebanon, according to Calmet, consist of two principal ridges, the eastern ridge being called, by the Greeks, Antilibanus. Between these, is a long valley called Cælo Syria, or Hollow Syria, the valley of Lebanon. D'Arvieux, in describing this mountainous region, says these are not barren mountains, but well-cultivated and wellpeopled. They are watered by numerous sources and rivulets of excellent water, which diffuse on all sides a freshness and fertility, even in the most elevated regions. The soil of their declivities, and of the hollows which occur between them, is excellent, and produces abundantly corn, oil, and wine, which is the best in Syria. Their principal riches at present is the silk which they produce. They are inhabited by Christians (Catholics), Greeks, and Maronites, also by Druses (a sort of mongrel Christian), and Mahommedans.Calmet's Dictionary, and Buck's Theological Dictionary, by Henderson. Biography. THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF HELENA LOUISA, DUCHESS OF ORLEANS. A BOOK, entitled "Souvenirs of the Life of Helena Louisa, Duchess of Orleans," has lately been published in Germany. It consists chiefly of letters written by the Duchess to her life-long friend, Professor Schubert, the editor of the book. We have not the work before us, but we purpose to avail ourselves of a lengthened notice of the same in a late number of the Revue Chrétienne, and give a few details of the childhood and youth of this pious and talented lady. The Duchess was a daughter of the Grand Duke Frederick Lewis, of Mecklenburg Schwerin. She had the misfortune to lose her mother, a woman of rare qualities, before she had completed her second year; but in the Princess Augusta, of Hesse Homburg, who soon after became the wife of the Grand Duke, she had the happiness of finding a lady who devoted herself with all her powers to the welfare of her adopted children. Professor Schubert first came to know the Princess when she was not quite three years old. He had entered the family in order to conduct the education of the Grand Duke's three children, and by his instructive and amusing stories, as well as by his regular lessons, he succeeded in winning their affection, but especially that of the Princess Helena. Schubert remained in the family three years, and though after his departure the Princess never saw him again, yet she kept up a more or less frequent correspondence almost to the moment of her death. Her tutor was astonished to see in her at that tender age, amid the joyfulness and vivacity of the child, a graceful dignity in the expression of her face, and in all her movements. The next tutor of the family was a M. Koch, a young man of simple and fervent piety. The Princess, when nine years of age, thus speaks of him in a letter to M. Schubert:-" Dear Professor, how I envy Mme. de Bechsolzheim the happiness she will have in seeing you with your family. I hope she will tell you how often we talk of you, and of the beautiful stories you used to narrate to us. Our dear M. Koch also knows some pretty stories. He gives me lessons which I like very much. I pray you to remember, dear Professor, that I have not one syllable from your hand, and that the smallest letter would greatly delight me. Farewell, dear Professor, don't forget altogether-Your Helena." In 1825, when the Princess was eleven years old, it being now time that greater attention should be paid to her education, her mother removed from the grand-ducal palace to the more quiet and retired palace of Ludwigslust. The Grand Duke had died in 1819, and the young Prince Albert was now gone with his tutor, M. Koch, to Zurich. The new tutor chosen for the Princess was M. Rennecke. At Ludwigslust the teaching began every day with a familiar explanation of the Bible. Rennecke, skilful in this part of his task, as well as in other branches of instruction, devoted four or five hours to it. Other masters and mistresses followed. All met together as a family for dinner, and for the regular walk, and all took their part in the Princess's games. In the evening all met again around the tea table, and spent the time pleasantly in reading and conversation. The Princess did not content herself with the instruction imparted to her. She also herself laboured to acquire knowledge, and to retain it. The Bible lessons, which she loved above all others, served to affect her heart as well as to enlighten her mind. She paid great attention to history and geography, while the study of nature was also a favourite one. A singular combination of circumstances seemed to impart to her religious development a providential direction. Her excellent governess, from Geneva, was of the Reformed or Calvinistic Church. A lady's maid of the Grand Duchess, and a great friend of the governess, was a Roman Catholic, and a Parisian withal. Rennecke was a Lutheran. It being his duty to perform family worship every evening, and to select an edifying subject for reading, he maintained the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace. Thus, among the different persons composing this domestic society, there was not one who was not perfectly at ease and happy in these meetings, gathered together in the name of Christ, and in which His presence was often felt. Writers belonging to the three different churches, and to different nations, contributed each their share for the general edification. Fenelon, Stolberg, Luther, Sailer, Calvin, Duplessis-Mornay, John Newton, Marshall, all appeared there in the service of the same Master. From this time Helena's mind and heart became increasingly occupied with the great subject of religion. The death of her bosom-friend, the Countess Ida von Bassewitz, tended to develope and strengthen her piety, and to prepare her for an important act of her life-her admission to the Lord's table (May 30th, 1830). She gave herself with great seriousness to the preparation for this solemnity. She wrote out the confession of faith which she was to make at the church, in the presence of the congregation, and she also composed, about the same time, several short poems, which proved her to be possessed of considerable natural talent. Soon after, her mother being obliged to pass the winter at Jena, under the care of a celebrated physician, the Princess was enabled to profit by the society of some of the ablest professors in the university of that city. Her own words to a friend show how she enjoyed such privileges:-" Our life here is quiet, yet animated; to all appearance uniform, but really rich in noble pleasures. The professors are very communicative. It is an exciting time-a golden age!" The earnestness of her mind at this period may be seen from the following letter to her old friend, M. Schubert:"Dear and venerated Professor,-I want you again to read a few words of profound gratitude, written by a well-known filial hand. I reckon upon your indulgence and patience. Your kind and friendly lines, and your papers, so highly interesting, were brought me by your friend, Church Councillor Oetti. Accept my warmest thanks for the assurance which your letter gives that you still remember me. The persuasion that I have a place in your memory, and |