and leaders be fixed beforehand. More than one may pray between the times of singing.

8. While one is praying, let all the others be silent; except at the close of a petition, then "let all the people say Amen," Ps. cvi. 48.

9. Let not the meeting exceed an hour.

Pray with humility. Remember, you are sinners, approaching a God of infinite holiness.

Pray with simplicity. What! will you attempt to captivate the ear of the Almighty by elegant sentences and high sounding diction? "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few," Eccles.

v. 2.

Pray with earnestness. "And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me," Gen. xxxii. 26.

Pray in the name of Christ. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you," John xvi. 23. Pray in faith. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them," Mark xi. 24.

POWER AND BLESSEDNESS OF

PRAYER.

NOTHING enriches the soul like prayer. The man of most spiritual wealth is he prays most. On this invisible ladder

who

he goes up and down with the angels, gathering sweet and holy thoughts and vigorous purposes in the blissful regions which are opened to the eye of faith in the channel of prayer.

In the silent hour of midnight he gilds his room with heavenly radiance; in sorrow and grief he ascends to the "secret place," to dwell beneath the "shadow of the Almighty;" and in prosperity he takes his blessings upward to secure for them a two-fold value by a Divine consecration.

Through this open channel he goes up and takes a blessing from the throne, to bring down and lay upon the bosom of his child, or companion, or friend, or neighbour. By it he enters other homes and other hearts, and enlisting the agency of the Great Comforter, the chains of sin are broken and the prisoner set free-the priceless pearl is dropped into many a heart on this or that side of the globe; on the sea, or on the land,

Through this open channel he brings down consolation to the weary and worn missionary-the light of life into the lonely hut of the wilderness--solace to the mourner, and rest to the heavyladen.

As he sits in the sanctuary what treasures of eternal life does he gather into his own soul, what gentle whispers from the Holy Spirit-what beatific visions, what penitential tears and loving aspirations are witnessed on that well-known and long-loved pathway of prayer! Nor is this all. He has time and thoughts for others. He brings hope, assistance, and courage to the minister, and silent voices from the ever-present Spirit, which will surely reach the ear and subdue the heart of the careless, the unthinking hearer.

Oh, who would preach year after year, month after month, to our congregations, were there not everywhere, in every church, these far-reaching ladders, with their ascending and descending angels, the aspirations going up, and the blessings coming down on the speaker, on the word, and on the listening assembly!

Thanks be to God! in this day of worldliness and declension, such open vistas are yet unclosed: the "two or three" are everywhere to be found who carry the all-unlocking key of prayer in their bosoms. Through this mighty and mysterious instrumentality they may yet bring the long-desired blessing again to the church-the converting influences of the Divine Spirit. Who, then, can estimate the worth of such an instrumentality which you, O Christian, possess, of whatever name or station.

But do you know the full meaning of prayer? Can you measure its limits? Have you tried the key at every door, at every heart? Have you tested its power as you go forth to business or solitudeto weary care or quiet rest-to the closet or sanctuary? Are you weary of these upward journeys, these glorious glimpses which you take at the open entrance of the court of heaven?

Oh then, to prayer! to prayer! The call is urgent. The world presses on and on to the very altar of God. The minister feels it. The church is fettered and bound by it. Satan sees it and rejoices in hope of victory. This one talent is yours. For prayer is as truly the breath of life in this lower world, as is praise the life of angels in the other. Prayer is your life, your work, your happiness, your great reservoir, your ex

haustless bank of hourly investment! A little rill in your heart, O believer, but terminating in infinite waters which shall gladden the city of our God!

"I AM A DEBTOR."

WHAT! Paul a debtor! he who had said, "Owe no man anything?" Yes, we have his own admission of the fact. "I am a debtor." And he had a great many creditors, too. "I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise;" i. e. to all races of men, all castes of intellect, all classes of character. And how vast and manifold his debt! It was,

1. A debt of duties, imposed by the authority of Christ: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

2. A debt of gratitude--" a debt immense of endless gratitude"-incurred by his having become a partaker of the priceless blessings of redemption through the Lord Jesus. He did not think it enough to say, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!" though he did this with the overflowing emotions of a grateful heart; but he remembered the law of Christ," Freely ye have received, freely give," and felt that the vast blessings he had received were all entered to his account, and constituted him " debtor" to the world for what he had received from God.

a

3. A debt of benevolence; for if it be a law of nature "kindly to point out the road to one who is astray," it must be so pre-eminently to point out the road to heaven to those who are groping after it, and in their error and confusion are taking that which leads to hell. If a destructive pestilence had been raging in the great city of Rome, (for it was Rome that he was now addressing,) and the apostle had been furnished, by some secret communication from above, with a certain remedy for it, would not the whole world have execrated his inhumanity if he had not, with all speed, sent it on to those dying multitudes? But he knew that the deadly plague of sin had fastened on its whole population, and that the peril of eternal death was hanging over them; and he had received, "by revelation of Jesus Christ," a balm which was sufficient to heal every soul of those perishing millions. Was he not, then, " a debtor" to impart it-to proclaim it, and blazon its virtues "publicly and from house to house?" It was also,

4. A debt of necessity-a debt that must be paid, if he would redeem his own soul from the sternest obligations and the most awful penalties. "Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel." But we must allow that he

was,

1. An honest debtor. He does not shrink or palter about his obligations, but acknowledges them in their full extent: "I am a debtor."

2. He was a hard-working debtor. "From Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, he fully preached the gospel of Christ," "suffered the loss of all things," braved incredible dangers and hardships, and "besought men day and night, with tears," to "be reconciled unto God."

3. He was a prompt and cheerful debtor. He did not dole out his payments grudgingly, but declares, "I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also." Never did the votary of pleasure pursue his favourite gratifications with more hearty goodwill than this debtor set about liquidating his obligations.

4. Somehow he expected a vast reward for honestly endeavouring to discharge. his obligations. This appears from all that he did and said; and just as his earthly, labours were about to terminate, he exclaims, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Glorious debt! Happy debtor!

CLOSET MEDITATIONS. "Death is yours," 1 COR. iii. 22. Is mine? What! that "last enemy," so dreaded by mortal inan; that grim inexorable foe, dissolving soul and body, from whose stroke none are free, is he mine? Yes, precious assurance! Death

is mine. My own rich legacy; my covenant gift from the God of my salvation, who himself " has abolished death," 2 Tim. i. 10.

Death is mine! Oh! glorious consolation! Mine, my conquered enemy! Now it can have no dominion over me. No terrors now, no shudderings, for "death is swallowed up in victory," 1 Cor. xv. 54; in the victory of Him "whom I have believed." O death, deceitful, cruel foe, where is now thy sting? Thy barbed pang, thy stern agony, thine excruciating sufferings, thine insupportable pains, what are they? All shadowy, transient, earthly! I mind them not, since over them all I have the

victory-the glorious victory of my Redeemer.

O my soul, be thou stirred up with deeper love, with more exalted praise to that Redeemer who, for thine own sake, has already conquered death and the grave, and for thy sake still proclaims, "O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction!" Hos. xiii. 14.

Come, weary soul, tired out with thy burden of sin and sorrow, with temptations, and trials, and afflictions, and corruptions, take courage, for "Death is yours;" your precious legacy, your conquered enemy, your faithful friend. Look no longer upon him with terror.

Soon

will he free you from this cumbersome tabernacle of clay, and give you angel wings, that you may mount and fly away to your rest in heaven; soon will he unlock for you yonder gates of bliss, that you may for ever bathe in those everlasting fountains of joy at the right hand of your God; soon will he usher you into the company of that happy throng "which no man can number,' Rev. vii. 9; that with them, before the great white throne, you may join in that new song, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, who hath redeemed us unto God by his blood," Rev. v. 9, 12.

Yes, death is mine, and "for me to die is gain," Phil. i. 21. And when God shall call me to lie down upon a bed of sickness, with cheerful submission will I endure every ill and every racking pain, that when all is over, I may sweetly fall asleep in Jesus, and awake satisfied with his likeness, Psa. xvii. 15.

Come, then, my weary soul, rejoice! Come, wonder, and admire, and praise, with triumphant exultation, the matchless love that has redeemed thee from death, that has ransomed thee from the power of the grave, Hos. xiii. 14. And when thou shalt have entered the dark stream of Jordan, though its waters be chill, and its waves swell high, forget not the voice of Him who has trodden the way before thee: "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour," Isa. xliii. 1-3.

HOMELY HINTS FOR MINISTERS. EXPECT much, and much will be given. Souls are perishing every day, and our

own entrance into eternity cannot be far distant. Let us, like Mary, "do what we can," and no doubt God will bless it and regard us openly.

Seek to be lamb-like; without this, all your efforts to do good to others will be as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Get much of the hidden life in your own soul; soon it will make life spread around.

Never forget that the end of a sermon is the salvation of the people.

"Cleave to the Lord;" not to man, but to the Lord.

Do not fear the face of man. Remember how small their anger will appear in eternity.

Oh! fight hard against sin and the devil. The devil never sleeps; be you also active for good.

But an inch of time remains, and then eternal ages roll on for ever; but an inch on which we can stand and preach the way of salvation to a perishing world.

Cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb; bask in his beams, lie back in the arms of his love, be filled with his Spirit, else all success in the ministry will only be to your own everlasting confusion.

It is not great talents God blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.

NAMES OF SATAN IN THE BIBLE, DELINEATING HIS MALICIOUS POWER, CHARACTER, AND CONDUCT.

Ts chief of the fallen, rebel angels-cast out of heaven, with his impious band, because of pride, and arrogance, and rebellion against God and his government--is called by several different names in the Holy Bible. These various names delineate either the tempting and destructive power he is permitted to exercise in the world, the subtle maliciousness of his character, or the rebellious and abominable wickedness of his conduct with men.

The names by which he is called are, Satan, Serpent, Devil, Fallen Angel, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Prince of the Power of the Air, Prince of the World, Prince of Darkness, a Roaring Lion, an Adversary, Beelzebub, Belial, Accuser, Deceiver, Liar, Dragon, Leviathan, Lucifer, Old Serpent, Murderer, Tormentor, the God of this World, Abaddon and Apollyon-a destroyer of the souls and happiness of men.

This is he, the Old Serpent, Satan, the Devil, who is permitted by the Supreme Ruler of the universe to have great rule and power in the world; who beguiled the mother of mankind; who, in the day of Job, when asked by the Lord, on the occasion of his presenting himself before the Lord with the sons of God, whence he came, answered the Lord, and said: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and

down in it." The same who tempted our Saviour forty days in the wilderness, the same who filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Ghost and the same deceiver who entered into Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of our Lord.

Behold what evil this fallen angel, Satan, the Devil, the malignant enemy of God and man, has done in the world! And he is now, at all times, and in all places, by all manner of artful devices and subtle designs, seeking to delude, to devour and destroy the souls of men, especially the church of the living God, and the faithful in the Lord. Yes, this is the malicious adversary with whom all Christians have to struggle. To his unwearied, diabolical machinations and insidious assaults we are all of us constantly exposed. And whither can we fly for help and succour, for relief and safety from this deadly foe, but to Jesus, our superior King, a stronger and greater than he, who, in the forty days' temptation, overcame and drove him from him, saying, "Get thee hence, Satan;" who vanquished him in dying for us, and triumphed over him in rising again from the dead; who has graciously promised to all that truly believe on him, that as he overcame Satan, with all his wiles, so surely shall they who trust in him overcome and triumph in him too? Confiding in the promise of the great Captain of our salvation, attracted by his victorious, loving power, and in the subdued spirit of his all-conquering grace, through the influence of the Holy Ghost, we would say with the sacred poet :

"O let us fly, to Jesus fly,

Whose powerful arm can save;
Then shall our hopes ascend on high,
And triumph o'er the grave."

THE SHORT CANDLE.

As I sat in my chamber I saw a little girl working by the light of a candle. It was burnt down almost to the socket. I perceived that she plied her needle very fast, and at length I overheard her saying to herself, "I must be very industrious; for this is the only candle I have, and it is almost gone."

What a moral there is, thought I, in the words of this child! Surely I may learn wisdom from it. Life is but a short candle. It is almost gone, and I have no other. How earnestly engaged should I then be in every duty of life. While I have the light of life, how careful should I be to perform everything enjoined by my heavenly Master.

1. I ought to be in haste to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that when this light is extinguished, there is no other allowed to mortals for preparation.

2. I ought to be all alive to the immortal interests of my fellow-creatures, working while it

WHEN on the fragrant sandal tree
The woodman's axe descends,
And she who bloomed so beauteously,"
Beneath the weapon bends,

E'en on the edge that wrought her death,
Dying she breathes her sweetest breath,
As if to token in her fall

Peace to her foes and love to all.

is called to-day, striving to bring sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ; for my brief candle is soon to go out, and there can be no conversion of sinners in another world.

3. I ought to be unceasingly active in every act of benevolence, making as many happy as I can; relieving the miserable, and doing good to all within my reach; for this light is soon to be put out, and in the other world the miserable and suffering will be beyond my reach.

4. I ought to use every talent for the glory of God and the kingdom of Christ; working the works of Him that sent me while it is day, because the night cometh, in which no man can work.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest," Eccles. ix. 10.

POWER OF PERSONAL HOLINESS. NEVER Will the church meet her solemn responsibilities until her children, bursting asunder the shackles that bind them, and rising out of the slough of earthliness in which they are sunk, come up to that high measure of evangelical sanctification which the voice of Scripture and the exigencies of a dying world alike demand of them. There is a moral omnipotence in holiness. Argument may be resisted; persuasion and entreaty may be scorned. The thrilling appeals and monitions of the pulpit, set forth with all the vigour of logic, and all the glow of eloquence, may be evaded or disregarded. But the exhibition of exalted piety has a might which nothing can withstand: it is truth embodied; it is the gospel burning in the hearts, beaming from the eyes, breathing from the lips, and preaching in the lives of its votaries. No sophistry can elude it, no conscience can ward it off; no bosom wears a mail that can brave the energy of its attack. It speaks in all languages, in all climes, and to all phases of our nature. It is universal-invincible; and clad in immortal panoply, goes on from victory to victory.

Let Zion, through all her departments, but reach this elevated point, and how rapid and triumphant would be her progress! With what overpowering demonstration would her tidings be attended! What numerous and ever-flowing channels would pour into her treasury the requisite means; and what hosts of her consecrated sons would stand forth, to publish on every shore the mandates of her King! And how richly would the showers of Divine influence be shed down, quickening into life the seed which she scatters, filling the desolate places with verdure and joy, and changing this blighted earth into the garden of the Lord.

How hardly man this lesson learns,

To smile and bless the hand that spurns;
To see the blow, to feel the pain,
And render only love again!
ONE had it but he came from heaven;
Reviled, rejected, and betrayed,

No curse he breathed, no plaint he made,
But when in death's dark pang he sighed,
Prayed for his murderers and died.

EXTRACTS FROM LOWTHIAN'S NARRATIVE OF A RECENT VISIT TO JERUSALEM, JUST PUBLISHED.

CORN MARKET IN JERUSALEM.-The cornmarket is a place covered over, and having a front with two arched entrances, which seem to be the remains of a building that has been erected and used for some other purpose. The floor is neither flagged nor paved, but is in a rough and uneven state. Those who come in with corn, bring it in small quantities, bound up in a coarse camel's hair cloth, and they sit down in the middle of the place until they dispose of it. As it is all brought in an undressed state, the work of dressing, or separating the chaff from the wheat, is carried on in the market during the time of buying and selling. This is done with a sieve much like an English one, only instead of spells for the bottom, they use a kind of hard hemp string, well-twisted, and about as thick as sail twine, and with these sieves, and a miserable substitute for a dressingmachine, they half dress their corn, for I cannot say it is any more. There is another class of traders who sit around the sides of the market, and each of these have good large heaps piled up against the wall. I imagined they were corn dealers, as they were engaged in buying it from the others, and then would deposit it on their heaps. The grain was very dry, and not unlike our red wheat. Barley is very small and light, and is used to feed their horses; and as for oats, I never saw any. The science of agriculture is not much understood, and no concern appears to be felt for improvement; and I may also observe, that their ploughing, sowing, dressing, and grinding are of a piece.

JOURNEY FROM THE DEAD SEA.- After having travelled about half a mile up this most horrible ravine, with mountains on each side, the tops of which we could not see, our guard suddenly halted at the mouth of what may be called a natural cave. Nicalo, after having had some talk with them, came to me and said this was the place where we should have to stop all night. I felt not a little astonished, but not in the least alarmed as to danger, so I jumped off my horse, marched into the black hole, and began to grope about. Not feeling anything in the way of a bench upon which I might stretch myself, I said to Nicalo, that there was nothing but the bare ground to lie upon; but he said, "Never mind, I shall lend you my cloak, and we shall get the night over very well;" so he spread down his rough Arab cloak, and I laid myself upon it, totally ignorant as to the state of the ground, whether filthy, or infested with insects or reptiles. Finding that I could not induce sleep, or in fact keep my head down without a pillow, I directed Nicalo to bring a good large stone, which he did. I then wrapped his cloak about me, and laid down again. By this time the guards and muleteer had tied their horses together, and given them some barley, and they turned in to avail themselves of the shelter which the cave afforded. When all had laid down, I told Nicalo to ask them if they knew the name of our hotel? They replied, "El

Antra." I said, I do not know how far the name may suit the place, as an Arabic name, but the first part of it suits very well as an English name; for it certainly does give to the mind such an idea of gloom and horror as I had never had any conception of-an idea which we usually associate with the place of final punishment. I got but little sleep, as my feet were very cold from riding so long as I had done, in the night air; besides this, the horses kept trampling about among the great stones, and often differing with one another, so that I was kept awake the greater part of the night; on which account I thought it to be a very long one, and when I saw the peep of day I felt very glad.

The

SABBATH IN JERUSALEM.-This was my first sabbath in Jerusalem. I had the pleasure of hearing the Bishop preach in his little church on Mount Zion. The congregation might be rather more than thirty, the greater half of which stayed to receive the sacrament. Bishop took for his text, Jer. xiii. 5-9; from which he clearly showed that the time is yet to come when the children of Israel shall be restored to their own land, being brought from all countries whither they have been driven, and that Jew and Gentile shall then constitute one church under Christ "the head." To hear these truths proclaimed on Mount Zion, at Jerusalem, was certainly both new and pleasing to me; but my pleasure was heightened to delight on seeing several converted sons of Abraham listening with eager interest to the same.

It is very painful to see how Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles. The sabbath is profaned, the shops are all open, and every one follows his ordinary vocation, as on other days; while the Mosque of Omar proudly rears its head over the place where once stood the holy of holies. To the reflecting traveller these are painful topics; but the Christian, whose mind being stored with prophetic truth, is calmly waiting for the expiration of the "times and half a time," should take courage, as doubtless the day is fast approaching when Jerusalem shall again be the "joy of the whole earth." The time of general humiliation and repentance of the whole house of Israel is drawing nigh. Then shall the bride make herself ready to receive the heavenly bridegroom, whose "feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east."

MOUNT ZION.-Going out of the Jaffa gate, I turned to the left, on the side of Mount Zion, where I could not but observe how strikingly the prophecy of Micah has been fulfilled : "Therefore shall Zion, for your sake, be ploughed as a field;" for as I walked along I observed that corn was growing to the very walls; and, with the exception of the Christian buryingground on the top of the hill, the whole of Mount Zion without the walls, consisting, I should think, of not less than a hundred acres, is divided into fields, sown with corn, cauliflowers, and other vegetables, with here and there a few olive trees. Among these fields there are many evidences that all this part of Mount Zion formerly belonged to the city.