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The Indians have quite an original idea of the cause of thunder and lightning. They believe in the existence of a sort of Brobdignagian bird called Soochwass, whose nest is on some lofty mountain far above the earth. It lives upon whales, and when one of tempting size makes its appearance on the surface of the ocean this huge bird pounces upon it with a fearful swoop; lightning is the flash of its enormous eye, and thunder the sound produced by the flapping of its wings,

As to their belief about a future state, the Songhie tribe holds the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. They do not seem to connect any moral disposition manifested in this life with the perpetuation of that disposition in another life as its natural reward or punishment; but a great hunter takes the form of the deer which he once hunted, and the fisherman becomes the fish it was his occupation to catch. So with the future life of all others in relation to the tastes they specially cultivated and the pursuits they followed. The natives in the north of British Columbia believe in a state of happiness hereafter which they call Keewuck (above), but from anything I have heard them say about it I should think they deem it to be only of a material character. The spirits of the brave killed in battle go to Keewuck-Kow (life above). To die peacefully in one's bed is accounted disgraceful, and those who expire in this manner are thought to be unfit for the joys of heaven, and have to become refined by purgatorial discipline among the trees of the forest. The intermediate state is designated Seewuck-Kow (life in purgatory). The grand feature of Keewuck

Kow is that perennial youth reigns there.

As among all heathen nations their conceptions of a Supreme Being exhibit Him in general in a penal attitude. In Stickeen river, which displays the grandest of all the sublime scenery of British Columbia, there are two large granite pillars and several small ones; these stand in the middle of the stream, and a tradition belonging to them is that they form the remains of a great chief with his family who was notorious in crime, especially for stealing berries from the local tribes. With his wife and children he was visited with the anger of the Great Spirit by being transformed into these blocks of stone, as a memorial to all generations of the danger of disobeying the deity.

In regard to modes of sepulture, the natives living near Victoria now bury their dead as the whites do; but with those at a distance from civilization this is not the usual practice. Some tribes as a rule burn their dead and preserve the ashes, and this is done on religious grounds. They believe in a vast and beautiful camping ground situated in some undefined country far west, where Indians live together in uninterrupted ease and plenty. This shadowy kingdom is presided over by a powerful spirit of ineffable goodness; it is also part of their creed that there is an evil spirit who watches for every opportunity to harm them, and whose designs to keep them out of heaven it is their duty to thwart. They take the heart to be immortal, and fancy that while the body is burning on the funeral pile, it leaps out; and that ir they can divert the attention of the evil spirit by noise or manœuvre of

any kind, the heart escapes to the place of eternal safety. If, however, the body is buried, the evil one keeps constant guard over the grave, and when the heart would fly out it is captured by him and made use of to trouble surviving relatives. When the corpse is prepared for burning, the knees are pressed toward the chin upon the breast, and the limbs and body bound tightly together in the smallest possible compass. It is then wrapt in a blanket and placed on its back upon the ground, with the face exposed. Every sound is hushed, and both men and women sit in silent knots around the corpse for about twenty minutes, when all rise at once -the women to wail and beat their breasts, and the men to build the funereal pyre.

The nearest relative

then advances and fires the pile. When the first curl of the smoke is visible the discordant howlings of the women become appalling. The men stand sullen and quiet, while the relatives, with poles in their hands, begin a frantic dance round the burning body, occasionally turning it over that it may consume more quickly, and give the heart a better chance to escape. With the waving of cloths and hideous noises they try to throw the evil one off his guard. When the whole is consumed the ashes are scraped together and a rude wreath of flowers is placed round them. A portion of the ashes mixed with pitch is spread on the faces of the relatives as a badge of mourning, which is allowed to remain till it wears off.

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THERE are no two words, if we except the name of our Saviour, that so move our hearts as 66 Calvary" and the "Cross." They are the signs of all that is holy and good. Our very heaven seems to be in them. But what were they on the day of Christ's death to Mary the mother of Jesus, to Mary His mother's sister, and to Mary Magdalene?

Calvary, in the language of the Romans; Golgotha, in the language of the Hebrews; interpreted in our language, "the place of a skull”. was so called because it was the place where public executions took place, and as such it was infamous in the eyes of the people. We may say in the words of Montgomery:

"Here I would for ever stay, Weep and gaze my soul away; Thou art heaven on earth to me, Lovely, mournful Calvary."

But the three Marys could not say this. As they then saw it and knew it, it was only the scene of utterest shame and misery.

Of the cross we may say:-
"In the cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story

Gathers round its head sublime."

But what was it to those who clung to it on the dark day of the Saviour's death? We all know, and are often reminded of it, that death by the cross was the punishment inflicted on slaves and malefactors of the worst class.

But we are not in a position to appreciate the feeling of loathing and abhorrence with which it was regarded by the Romans and by the nations over which the Romans ruled. The painfulness and agony of death by the cross were greater far than of death by any other means. But the shame of it distinguished it more than its painfulness and agony. To die by the sword of the axeman was an honour rather than a disgrace. To die by the mouth of the lion in the amphitheatre, though a terrible death, was scarcely a disgrace. But the cross-in that was concentrated all ideas at once of shame and of suffering. And this was the death the enemies of Jesus demanded that He should die. If there were two things more repulsive than all others to the dwellers in Jerusalem, and to these Marys among the rest, they were Calvary and the Cross. How great then must have been the attraction of Jesus to the hearts of these women, when, notwithstanding the repulsion which would have driven them thence, they stood by the cross all the long hours that He was dying upon it.

Let us see who they were, and what mind their presence there indicated. Mary, the mother of Jesus, we know. The history of her motherhood we know; and how she pondered in her heart time after time things that she did not fully understand, and which could be understood only in the light of the future history of her son. How she was honoured and obeyed as a mother we know, although she was not permitted to interfere with the work for which her son was born, and in which neither friend nor mother could have any share.

Of Mary, the wife of Cleophas, we

know nothing but that she was, though bearing the same name, the sister of the mother of Jesus, that she was the mother of James the less and Joses, and that she had already shown her love to Jesus by ministering to Him of her substance,*

Of Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala in Galilee, we know that she was indebted to the Lord Jesus for deliverance from seven evil spirits, which had entered into her. (Mark xvi. 9.) The term Magdalene has acquired a peculiar meaning, through an unfortunate misunderstanding of the gospel history. There is no ground whatsoever for confounding Mary Magdalene with the woman that was a sinner, and who anointed the feet of the Saviour in the house of the Pharisee. We cannot find a single link of connection between the one story and the other. Yea more, the facts of the one are incompatible with the facts of the other. Mary of Magdala was possessed of seven devils. That was a calamity, an affliction, not a sin. And we have no reason to believe that they who were thus afflicted were sinners above all others who were not thus afflicted. The woman who anointed the feet of Jesus was simply a person well known in the city in which she dwelt for her wicked life. When she came into the Pharisee's house, it was evidently her first introduction to Jesus. (Luke vii. 39.) And she is not brought as a demoniac to have devils cast out of her, but as a penitent to avow her penitence and her love to Him whose words of mercy

* Our Lord's "Mother's sister," and "Mary, the wife of Cleophas" (or "Clopas" rather), are regarded by some as not the same, but different persons.

to publicans and sinners had opened them standing afar off, beholding what for her a door of hope.

If we attempt to join the two stories into one, we are at once met with the question, when were the devils cast out of her? Not when she came into the house of the Pharisee. There was no miracle performed there. She comes before Jesus, not maddened by seven devils, but in full self-possession of all her faculties. If the miracle was performed some time before, are we to suppose that she gave herself up to wicked courses after being healed? But we need not follow these inquiries. The narrative itself should have prevented all confounding of the two persons. "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom 'went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance." (Luke vii. 50; Luke viii. 1, 2, 3.) There is nothing in the description of the women who followed Jesus that includes the woman that was a sinner. On the contrary, they are plainly distinguished from her. She had been bidden to go in peace, not invited to follow. And fit it was that, though loving much and fully forgiven, she should retire into the utmost privacy, and not take a place before the public eye in the train of Jesus.

These three Marys stood by the cross of Jesus. At first we read of

was being done on the cross and around it. Probably they could not at first come near because of the crowd and its turbulence. But they gradually urged their way till they stood by the cross, within hearing of the words of the loved one who was dying upon it. And their standing there we accept as the fruit and sign of their love and devotion to Christ. And herein they have left us an example.

The love and devotion of the first of them may be supposed to be accounted for sufficiently by the fact that she was His mother. A mother's love is stronger than death. But even a mother might be forgiven, or held guiltless, if she had fled from that scene, seeing her presence might only aggravate the sufferings of the dying one. But Mary knew Jesus to be not only her son, but her Lord. As David recognised the Christ by the prophetic spirit to be both his son and his Lord, so did Mary. The circumstances of His birth, and the intimations which accompanied it, with His own after-teaching and working, placed His relation to her beyond dispute. And her love to Him now was much more than a mother's love.

The love of the second Mary was certainly not the mere love of a mother's sister, for a prophet has often least honour in his own country and among his own kindred. And we know that at a time when He had many followers and disciples, His own brethren did not believe in Him. The wife of Cleophas must have been drawn to Him by spiritual affinities. She knew more and saw and felt more of His true character than flesh and blood could have revealed to her.

That the third Mary should love Him and devote herself to Him is not to be wondered at. She had been delivered from seven devils. And yet it might have been so without any fruit of love and devotion to Christ. "Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine ?" But Mary's heart was opened to receive Him who had delivered her from the seven demons, to be the very Lord of her soul and her life. And her love to Him became intense and constant.

To estimate the devotion of these women to Christ, there are several things we must take into account; as for example, The too familiar fact of the failure of friendship in the time of adversity. The proverbs of every age speak to us of summer friendships, and how they perish in the frosts of winter. It was no common winter, no common storm, that now tested the friendship of these women for Jesus.

The boldest of Christ's disciples said," Though allmen should deny thee, yet will not I." But his courage failed him when the hour of trial came. These women were truer to their Lord than was Peter. They were prepared to share His danger and His shame. They now loved Him and gave themselves to Him with as much constancy as when the multitude, a few days before, had exclaimed, "Hosanna ; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Summer and winter made no difference to them. Bright noon and dark midnight were alike to them. A second thing which we must take into account, if we would duly estimate their love and devotion to Christ, is the pain it gave them to stand there and witness His sufferings. They could not deliver Him, they could not help Him; but, standing there and

gazing upon Him, we may say that they were crucified with Him. The saying of Simeon to the mother of Jesus was now fulfilled in its utmost force-" A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." The sword did now pierce that mother's soul through and through. And her sufferings were only less than those of the loved one who was nailed to the accursed tree. And yet by the foot of the cross she would stand-her love to Jesus strengthened her and the other Marys to bear all.

But

And especially must we take into account the fact that they did not understand at this time the higher meanings of that cross. They did not understand whereunto all this would grow. Jesus had distinctly forewarned them of His death, and had said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John xii. 24). this, and much more, they did not understand. They had hoped that this was He who should have redeemed Israel; but this death of Christ was almost the death of their hopes. They could only hope against hope. And, that in these circumstances they should still cling to Him was no small proof of their love and devotion. Nothing, not even the cross, could change the judgment they had formed of Him, on the strength of His character and works, that this was the Son of the living God. Nothing, not even the cross, could blot out the impression which His character had

made on their hearts. And therefore by the cross they would stand, spite of all the perplexity and bewilderment into which His dying threw them. And verily they had their reward.

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