wilderness, left alone in a barren and desolate place, forsaken by its companions, and by man, with the roar of wild beasts sounding in its ears, without food, without water, without refuge. What became of this scape-goat, as it was called, no one knew. God's anger rested on it, as it did on Jesus, when He bore our sins. Perhaps God killed it by a sharp stroke of lightning; perhaps, trembling, hungry, and cold, it laid down at last and died, uncared for, unpitied. We do not know its end; but we know that it is like Jesus, who bore our sins, and carried our sorrows; and who casts all the sins of those who believe and trust in Him behind His back. The scape goat is one of the strongest types of the atonement of Jesus, therefore, never forget it. Remember, also, how before His death He was driven into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil for forty days and forty nights: how He resisted all Satan's attacks, and for our sakes bore hunger and temptation. The Church has wisely set apart six weeks every year, for more especial thoughts of the temptation and atonement of Jesus. This season is called Lent. Some people keep it as a fast, and will not eat any meat during that time, thinking this will please God. But God does not care for this kind of fasting. He has given us, in Isa. lviii. 5—7, a beautiful description of how He desires such solemn times

to be spent. I hope, therefore, dear children, that when Lent comes round you will think more especially of Jesus,-His sufferings and redemption; though I trust you will bear in mind these all-important things at all seasons of the year, for if you have not an interest in Christ's atoning sacrifice, remember, you can have no place in heaven.

THE HART AND HIND.

THESE are beautiful animals, of the deer kind. They were clean, because they parted the hoof (or foot) and chewed the cud; which means eating over again in a peculiar manner the food they had before swallowed. All animals that chew the cud live on vegetable food. The name of hart is not given to this animal until it is six years old, when it is considered full-grown. In its fifth year it is called a stag. The hart is the male, the hind the name of the female of this beautiful creature. Numbers of them are found in Palestine, where they may be seen leaping and skipping upon the hills, or feeding among the lilies. Jesus is thus compared to these graceful creatures in the Song of Solomon ii. 7—9: "The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills; my beloved is like the roe or the young hart,' etc. And again, "My beloved (that is Jesus) is

mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether." (Ver. 16, 17).

Ah! dear children, this language is a type of a believer's feelings towards Jesus. Ask yourselves, is He your beloved, do you love Him dearer than all besides? If not, pray in the words of another verse of this beautiful song:"Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices" (chap. viii. 14); which means, pray that Jesus, by His Spirit, will quickly come and dwell in your heart; so shall you have rest and peace, as the hart among the sweet spicy flowers of the mountains. When Jacob blessed his sons he compared Naphtali with "a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words." A free hind was a beautiful sight, playing on the hills. Besides being a graceful animal, God has endowed it with an acute smell and excellent hearing. It still abounds among the ancient hills of Naphtali's tribe, though, alas! no sons of Naphtali now are there to see its agile movements, or note the soft, almost tearful, glance of its soft, full, liquid eyes. No! they are gone; and none but God knows where these lost sons of Israel are, who are still bearing their heavy punishment, far

away from their own bright land, and from their fathers' God. Let us pray that the time may soon come, when once again all Israel shall be gathered to their land, and God, even their own God, shall give them His blessing.

The swiftness and safe-footedness of the hart is often spoken of in the Bible. One of David's nephews, called Asahel, we read "was light of foot as a wild roe." David, speaking of the strength God gave to him, says, "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet" (Psalm xviii. 33); and the prophet Habakkuk beautifully concludes his prophecy by saying, “The Lord is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places." There is in the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, a sweet description of that blessed time when the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of Jesus Christ, and in one verse we read, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing," etc. (Vers. 5, 6.) What a time will that be when even the now barren desert "shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." (Ver. 1.) The hind is very affectionate and loving, so she is compared with a good wife by Solomon. "Let her be," he says, "as the loving hind and pleasant roe."

(Prov. v. 19.) The hind was very tender to her young, and it was only in times of great famine when she was induced to forsake her little ones. So Jeremiah speaks of her. (Chap. xiv. 5.) When the people of Judah went into captivity the same prophet compares them with harts that can find no pasture. (Lam. i. 6.) But perhaps the most beautiful verse with regard to holy people, in which the hart is used in comparison, is in Psa. xlii. 1. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God." To pant is to breathe hard, to pine, to long for, very, very much. The hart does not drink much in the colder part of the year, but in the heat of summer it is sometimes sadly distressed for water, and parched and panting, it seeks eagerly the cool refreshing stream, there to drink that it may not perish. So does holy David feel to long for God, his spirit pines after the waters of grace. Jesus Christ says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

THE ROEBUCK, or ROE DEER, was another animal which the Jews were allowed to eat (it is called the gazelle of Syria), mentioned in Deut. xiv. 5. In many points it is like the hart, or stag, though lighter and smaller. The colour of the back is of reddish brown; the chest and body yellowish, and the hinder parts white. It