circumstances—a ruler of the synagogue; but it is not within the power of worldly circumstances to ward off sorrow. Perhaps this girl was his only child. No doubt he had procured the best advice, and the most efficient medical aid which money and influence could purchase; but all was vain. The girl became every day worse, and was coming to the point of death.

The afflicted father knew something of the power of Jesus. He was, perhaps, one of those who had interceded on behalf of the centurion, whose servant lay at the point of death, Luke vii. 3-5.

He believed that Jesus could restore his child to health, and therefore his application for this favour. The ruler applied in person. He rendered honour to Jesus, whose compassion he sought. He told, in a few simple and touching words, the grief that pressed on his heart; and he added, without hesitation, his belief that the touch of Jesus would restore the child to life and health. His application to Christ was sincere, humble, and believing.

Secondly. CHRIST'S COMPASSION TO JAIRUS.

As soon as Jairus had told his tale, the Saviour complied with his request, ver. 24, as in the case of the centurion, Luke vii. 6. When a nobleman applied under somewhat similar circumstances, Jesus appeared to delay, John iv. 48-50; but perhaps he intended to bring out the nobleman's faith. Here, in the application which Jairus made, faith was expressed, and therefore the Saviour at once proceeded to do as had been desired.

The incident as they were going, ver. 25-34, might occasion some delay, and it is conceivable that the agonized father would be deeply anxious; yet no expression of impatience escaped him. The arrival of messengers with the tidings of his child's death, distressing as it was, did not destroy his hope; for in what had taken place on the woman, he saw the power of Jesus, and to check any feeling of despair, Christ bid him hope still.

So great was the Redeemer's compassion to this afflicted father. Thirdly. THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS RESTORED TO LIFE.

The ruler's house was full of mourners. Women, with their low, sad wail, strove to excite the lamentation of all who were present, and the flute-players were giving forth their melancholy strains.

Nothing is said of the girl's mother. She, no doubt, was really weeping. The father, too, was sad; yet Jesus had bid him believe and hope, and he did so. Something was about to take place, amply justifying the hope which Christ had bid him exercise.

Sending the mourners out from the room where the dead body lay, Jesus took Jairus and the girl's mother into the

room. They, no doubt, were deeply grieving; but hope mingled with their sorrow. The three disciples also, who were exclusive witnesses to some of the most interesting scenes in the life of Christ, were there.

With a majesty and mildness which betokened Christ's infinite power, he took the damsel by her hand, now cold in death, and spoke in familiar terms, as if awaking her from sleep. And straightway, &c., ver. 42.

The miracle was not preceded by prayer, as those of Elijah and Elisha were, 1 Kings xvii. 21; 2 Kings. iv. 33, but it was wrought by a touch and a word of majestic command. The prophets were servants, and wrought their miracles as servants. Jesus Christ was the Lord of souls, the Author of life. Death and the unseen world were subject to his control.

No wonder that the parents and the and that all talked of what Jesus did.

multitude were astonished, Those who had treated him

with scorn, ver. 40, were now filled with astonishment. Still many remained unbelievers.

PRACTICAL.-Young persons may die. You should therefore think of death, and prepare for it. Christ never refuses or neglects sincere and earnest prayer. He did not reject the application of Jairus. Christ raises from the death of sin, and bestows eternal life.

The motto of the Prince of Wales.

"I AM as he that serves," did once declare

The Prince of Heaven, Jehovah's first-born son,
Whose seat is at the right hand of the throne,

As heir of all things till his crown He wear.
The name of servant deigning thus to bear,
Not to be ministered unto He came,
But minister, and let the humblest claim
His help. And now the Bride he counts so fair,
In mystic union made with him joint heir,

Since He hath chosen her to share his crown,
Must first espouse this motto as her own,
His service for the coming kingdom share,
And make the lowly, poor, and small her care;
Till raised to sit with him upon his throne.

H. L.

THE GOOD FIGHT.

Go forth, go forth to battle,

The shameful night is past.

Hear ye the gathering army's shout?
Hear ye the trumpet blast?
Lo! where they meet in proud array,
With gleaming spear and crest,
Their faces towards the rising day,
The red cross on each breast.

Arise! gird on your armour,

And join the warrior band,

Who go to drive the Christian's foe,

Out of the Holy Land!

For they have sworn by blessed rood,

With purpose pure and high,

Their swords shall drink the heathen's blood,
And they will win or die.

Arise from curtained dreaming,

Of easy, weak delights,

And follow to the crimson fields,

And take the shining heights.

Go, strike from tender limbs the chain,
Go break the tyrant's rod,

And bring to eyes that watch in vain,

The blessed light of God.

Go forth, our love is on you,

Our prayers shall gird you round, Or when ye spoil the spoiler's pride,

Or fall on holy ground.

And sweeter than on mother's breast,
The child's calm sleep at even,

Shall be each soldier's latest rest,

Mid wooing songs of Heaven.

THEKLA.

CHRIST'S TESTIMONY TO MOSES.

WE hear a great deal just now of the efforts being made, more or less successfully, to prove Bishop Colenso wrong in the calculations by which he would upset the Pentateuch. The question concerns Christianity as well as Judaism; for, as has often been pointed out, Christ himself testified to the inspiration and Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch; and either his Divine knowledge or veracity is impugned, if on the one hand, we suppose him to have known no more concerning these records than any Jew of his day, or on the other, that he was willing to pander to a popular delusion. Many, therefore, are awaiting in tremulous anxiety the issue of the contest, feeling, notwithstanding the Bishop's assurances to the contrary, that their faith, as Christians, is involved in any ruin that may befal their faith in Moses; whether it be a disproof of his existence, or of the inspiration, the genuineness, or the historic truth of his supposed writings. The matter stands thus with them -Christ said, "Moses wrote of me," (John v. 46,) and declared, that Moses gave the law, (vii. 19.) He appealed also to things recorded in the Pentateuch as facts, in illustration of his own doctrine; for instance, "As in the days that were before the flood until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. xxiv. 38, 39). "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush." (Luke xx. 37). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." (John iii. 14). But if it si discovered that Moses never wrote, never met God at the bush, never lifted up the serpent,- -or that Noah's ark and Noah's flood never existed, then Christ was in error concerning these narratives; and if Christ was in error, he was not God; and if he was not God, our faith is vain, "we are yet in our sins." The question in short, now agitating thousands of hearts, is essentially that which Christ himself put, "If ye believe not Moses' writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John v. 47); truly a significant and momentous query for Bishop Colenso, and all of us!

But we may go further than this in tracing the vital connection between the verity of the Old Testament events and the divinity of Christ; and we shall see that our faith in Christ as the Word, Who n the beginning was with God, and was God," (John i, 1,)" by

whom all things were created,"(Col. i. 16,)" who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," (Phil. ii. 6,) is invalidated, if we deny his capability,-not only to pronounce infal libly concerning the inspiration and authenticity of Moses, as the historian of certain events, but to remember the very events themselves! For, if he spoke truth, when he said, "Before Abraham was, I AM," (John viii. 58,) he did not depend on Exodus to know that the God of Abraham showed Himself to Moses at the bush; if he was "before all things," (Col. i. 17,) he had no need of Genesis to tell him the story of Noah's Flood. In other words, if He was indeed all that we have hitherto believed Him to be, He not only knew Moses for a true witness, but He was a witness Himself,-a far more direct and perfect witness-for Moses could only speak concerning events anterior to his own day, from revelation or from the records of earlier witnesses, but Christ from personal knowledge. Let it not be said, that while He was on earth, this knowledge was limited by His humanity; for if it be maintained that the Divine in his nature in no way impaired the integrity of the human, it must in consistency be allowed, that the human in no way impaired that of the Divine. True, it was not through his human nature that Christ could know certain things; but if then we declare that he did not know them at all, we imply that he had nothing but his human nature to guide him, and so necessarily come round to a denial of his Divinity, as the only possible alternative that remains after rejecting the belief that He knew all things.

Christ's humanity could not help, but neither (according to the New Testament story) did it hinder his Divine foreknowledge of the events described in Matt. xxiv. Now, we cannot believe that Christ could really look forward to the time of His own coming, "with power and great glory," (ver. 30,) unless we are prepared to allow, that He could also look back to "those days of Noe," by which he illustrated it, (ver. 37.) Ah! if we will not allow this, what security have we for that? If Christ's belief in Noah's flood rested only on his faith in the Scriptures, shared by all Jews of his day, how do we know that his prophecy of the future was not drawn from study of other Scriptures, for instance, the writings of Daniel and Malachi, also believed by all Jews of his day? Christ himself however plainly intimated that he could look back to his pre-human existence. In that sublime prayer, which he offered in the presence of his disciples, before his final humiliation, he seems to appeal to a mutual memory between himself and his Father, of the glory which they had together before the world was. (John xvii. 5.) Now surely, if in the days of his flesh, Christ could look back to that,