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among the conspirators themselves truth finds an ally, or the stones of the field cry out against them. Let no Christian be in bondage through fear of deep-laid Jesuitical schemes, for surely there is no enchantment against Jacob nor divination against Israel, the toils of the net are broken, the arrows of the bow are snapped, the devices of the wicked are foiled. Therefore, fear not, ye tremblers; for the Lord is at your right hand, and ye shall not be hurt of the enemy.

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6. " They search out iniquities." Diligently they consider, invent, devise, and seek for wicked plans to wreak their malice. These are no common villains, but explorers in iniquity, inventors and concoctors of evil. Sad indeed it is that to ruin a good man the evil-disposed will often show as much avidity as if they were searching after treasure. The Inquisition could display instruments of torture, revealing as much skill as the machinery of our modern exhibitions. The deep places of history, manifesting most the skill of the human mind, are those in which revenge has arranged diplomacy, and used intrigue to compass its diabolical purposes. They accomplish a diligent search." Their design is perfected, consummated, and brought into working order. They cry "Eureka;" they have sought and found the sure method of vengeance. Exquisite are the refinements of malice! hell's craft furnishes inspiration to the artistes who fashion deceit. Earth and the places under it are ransacked for the materiel of war, and profound skill turns all to account. "Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep." No superficial wit is theirs; but sagacity, sharpened by practice and keen hatred. Wicked men have frequently the craft to hasten slowly, to please in order to ruin, to flatter that ere long they may devour, to bow the knee that they may ultimately crush beneath their foot. He who deals with the serpent's seed has good need of the wisdom which is from above: the generation of vipers twist and turn, wind and wriggle, yet evermore they are set upon their purpose, and go the nearest way to it when they wander round about. Alas! how dangerous is the believer's condition, and how readily may he be overcome if left to himself. This is the complaint of reason and the moan of unbelief. When faith comes in, we see that even in all this the saints are still secure, for they are all in the hands of God.

7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded,

8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

7. "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow." They shot, and shall be shot. A greater archer than they are shall take sure aim at their hearts. One of his arrows shall be enough, for he never misses his aim. The Lord turns the tables on his adversaries, and defeats them at their own weapons. "Suddenly shall they be wounded." They were looking to surprise the saint, but, lo! they are taken at unawares themselves; they desired to inflict deadly wounds, and are smitten themselves with wounds which none can heal. While they were bending their bows, the great Lord had prepared his bow already, and he let slip the shaft when least they looked for such an unsparing messenger of justice. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." The righteous need not learn the arts of self-defence or of attack, their avengement is in better hands than their own.

Their

8. "So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves." slander shall recoil. Their curses shall come home to roost. Their tongue shall cut their throats. It was both sword, and bow and arrow; it shall be

turned against them, and bring home to them full punishment. "All that see them shall flee away." Afraid, both of them and their overthrow, their former friends shall give them wide space, lest they perish with them. Who cares to go near to Herod when the worms are eating him? or to be in the same chariot with Pharaoh when the waves roar round him? Those who crowded around a powerful persecutor, and cringed at his feet, are among the first to desert him in the day of wrath. Woe unto you, ye liars! Who will desire fellowship with you in your seething lake of fire?

9. "And all men shall fear." They shall be filled with awe by the just judgments of God, as the Canaanites were by the overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. Those who might have been bold in sin shall be made to tremble and to stand in awe of the righteous judge. "And shall declare the work of God." It shall become the subject of general conversation. So strange, so pointed, so terrible shall be the Lord's overthrow of the malicious, that it shall be spoken of in all companies. They sinned secretly, but their punishment shall be wrought before the face of the sun. "For they shall wisely consider of his doing." The judgments of God are frequently so clear and manifest that men cannot mis-read them, and if they have any thought at all, they must extract the true teaching from them. Some of the divine judgments are a great deep, but in the case of malicious persecutors the matter is plain enough, and the most illiterate can understand.

10. "The righteous shall be glad in the Lord." Admiring his justice and fully acquiescing in its displays, they shall also rejoice at the rescue of injured innocence, but their joy shall not be selfish or sensual, but altogether in reference to the Lord. "And shall trust in him." Their observation of providence shall increase their faith; since he who fulfills his threatenings will not forget his promises. "And all the upright in heart shall glory." The victory of the oppressed shall be the victory of all upright men; the whole host of the elect they shall rejoice in the triumph of virtue. While strangers fear, the children are glad in view of their Father's power and justice. That which alarms the evil, cheers the good. Lord God of mercy, grant to us to be preserved from all our enemies, and saved in thy Son with an everlasting salvation.

I am Waiting.

"Now, Lord, what wait I for?"-Psalm xxxix. 7.

I AM waiting for the answer

To many an earnest prayer.
Long have I watched and waited,
And still will linger there.
Thine hand, it is not shortened,
Nor heavy is thine ear,

I know the answer's coming,
And wait, and do not fear.

I am waiting for the moving
Of the fiery pillar bright,
And I dare not take one footstep
Without its guiding light.
Thy Providence has led me
In all my wanderings past:
That Providence will lead me,
E'en to the very last.

I am waiting for the triumph

Of the right o'er sin and wrong,
Which the "saints beneath the altar"
Have waited for so long.

IN

Soon is that triumph coming,
Soon shall the conflict cease,
And war, and war's dark rumours,
Shall end in lasting peace.
I am waiting till the darkness
Shall all have cleared away.
The night, it has been dreary;
Bright, bright will be the day.
"As they that watch for morning,"
Have. I waited lone and long;
And now I see the dawning,

And my heart breaks forth in song.
I am waiting for the coming
Of the glorious King of Kings;
Who, in his march of conquest,
Both joy and "healing" brings.
O come, then, blessed Saviour,
Thine is the right to reign;
Desire of all the nations,

O come to earth again.

I am waiting for the summons

Of the Bridegroom drawing near,

And I stand with loins well girded,

And watch till he appear.

Soon, soon "these eyes shall see him "-
Soon shall I hear his voice:

With such a blissful prospect

I cannot but rejoice.

I am waiting for the opening
Of the pearly, crystal gates,
Of Jerusalem, the golden;
For that my spirit waits.
I long to hear the welcome-
"Ye blessed, enter in;

Rest, weary ones, for ever

From toil, and pain, and sin."

J. OSWALD JACKSON.

Dr. Adam Clarke's life.

N Solomon's portraiture of the virtuous, or excellent woman, there is no line more important than that which declares, "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." The Divinely appointed unity of husband and wife supposes and requires the most perfect fidelity and confidence on the part of both. The lack of this destroys the preciousness and peace of domestic life. Many a time the wife has found her fond hopes blighted by a breach of confidence on the part of the husband; and many a husband fears to confide the weighty and important cares and secrets of his life to the custody of the woman of his choice, because she has proved herself untrustworthy, and has wrought evil by divulging those things which had been committed to her confidence.

The evil arising from this is great, and especially so in the case of ministers of the gospel. Their position makes them acquainted with many things which are communicated in the sacredness of the strictest confidence; and many a time, such matters, revealed to a wife, have been divulged by her, to the ruin of the most important interests.

A bright example of wifely fidelity is found in Mary Cooke, the wife of the learned Adam Clarke, to whom, at the age of eighteen, she was married “in the Lord," the 17th of April, 1778.

Before their marriage he referred to his ecclesiastical relations, and his liability to be sent wherever the Conference might please, and enquired if she would go with him whithersoever he should be sent. She answered, "Yes. If I take you, I take you as a minister of Christ, and shall go with you to the ends of the earth." At another time she wrote, Some propose your being sent to America, or the West Indies; but if the glory of God actuate the proposal, if the good of souls be the motive thereto, should they send you to China or Japan, I should be afraid to persuade you against going. I would rather say, 'Go, Adam, and thy God be with thee. Thy Mary will also go with thee, if she may. Go, and forget all but to win souls for glory.'

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Dr. Clarke's perfect trust in his wife is seen by his comment on Micah vii. 5. "Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom." Upon which he comments thus:"On this passage, in the year 1798, I find I have written as follows:Trust ye not in a friend. Several of those whom I have delighted to call by that name, have deceived me: Put ye not confidence in a guide.' Had I followed some of these, I should have gone to perdition. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.' My wife alone never deceived me, It is now twenty-seven years since, and I find no cause to alter what I then

wrote."

A pleasing circumstance occurred at one of the Conferences, where it was announced that a subject was about to be introduced, which the members were not to disclose even to their wives. Instantly Clarke was seen trying to slip out of the room, when a voice was heard:

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Dr. Clarke is about to leave the Conference."

"You must not go out, Dr. Clarke," said the President.

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More peremptorily the president exclaimed, "You must not!" to which Dr. Clarke replied:

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You state, sir, that we are not to tell our wives the subject that is about to be brought forward. I want to hear nothing that I cannot tell my wife. I tell her everything. Those who have talkative wives may refrain from telling them; but mine is not such. What is deposited with her is kept safely."

"Very good, Doctor," said the President, "you may stop, as your wife can keep a secret."

Happy would it be for many a minister of Christ, if such a testimony could be borne concerning the companion of his life.

Women have busy minds, and need to be employed.

And if no little world of love and joy binds them to their family and their home; if no divine purpose of holy ministration directs and holds them in their stedfast course, they learn not only to be "idle, but tattlers also, speaking the things which they ought not." This was woman's besetment in Paul's day, when she was left to waste her powers and energies unemployed. The remedy was pointed out by the apostle : I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Tim. v. 13, 14.

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Mary Clarke had business enough without gadding and tattling. Blessed with the love of her noble husband, and her twelve lovely children, she found better occupation than gabbling, or gossiping, hunting for scandal, or busying herself with other people's matters.

The love she bore to her six sons and six daughters would astonish many of those who are "without natural affection," in these last perilous days. She once wrote: " My dear little ones engross by far the largest portion of my time;

and the pleasing satisfaction which results from nursing them is my greatest reward. Next to my husband, I view them as the most precious boon of heaven; and I do heartily love them as the gift of God. Neither can you, I am sure, conceive the tender feelings of a mother's breast. I would not be without these children for all the earth could offer." To one of her sons, she wrote the following instructive words:

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Do nothing carelessly, and then, I venture to say, that with the ability you have, you will do most things well. Be exact in all you do, nor let the least matter pass you unexamined. In your reading, too, investigate your subject, and be not satisfied with skimming on the surface of things, nor make an attempt to grasp the whole, without attending to every part in order. Paying attention to particulars, as well as to generalities, will by degrees give you a habit of mental observation, while at the same time, it will deepen your knowledge. But endeavour to gain heavenly wisdom. Do not forget to bear your needs and your heart in private before God, that he may grant you his grace, and direct all your future path in life.”

Reviews.

Words of Consolation, Pardon, and Hope: a Manual for the Tried and Sorrowful; consisting of Short Appeals, Scripture Readings, Prayers, and Hymns. By the Author of "Homely Readings." William Macintosh, We are never much in love with books which contain forms of prayer, but we feel bound to say that this is a very suitable manual for the poor and sick. It is thoroughly evangelical, earnest, and faithful; and as to the style, it has the great merit of being simple without being dull. Here and there we think truth is badly put, as, for instance, when the author says, "Unbelief is the only sin which the gospel does not meet. For this it has no cure. 'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.' We know what the writer means, but he does not express himself properly, and so seems to teach error. Thanks be unto God even unbelief can be forgiven and overcome.

The Mansions, Halls, and Palaces of Heaven: or, Glimpses of the Spiritland, under the Similitude of a Vision. By ROBERT SEAGER. James Clarke

and Co. HIGH-SOUNDING nonsense. When the author had dreamed his dream, the best thing he could have done was to have forgotten it as soon as ever he awoke to consciousness. We have seldom met with writing so fantastic, visionary, and unprofitable.

H. L. HASTINGS, Boston.

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MR. GRIFFIN's Fables have greatly amused us. They are exceedingly clever and, as the title truly puts it, are both "grave and gay." He is sarcastic, and very bold, cutting right and left. Manliness and originality are apparent every where, and humour and wit are abundant. We are not sure of the practical usefulness of some of these fables, but they are sure to be popular. The very cover of the book ought to sell many thousands. For an hour's recreation, and as a pinch of salt, this curious book is well worth the shilling charged for it.

Things to come, Practically Considered. By WILLIAM REID, of Lothian Road, United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. William Oliphant & Co. We do not accept Mr. Reid's antimillenarian views; but, apart from this, we are much pleased to have the whole subject of the future brought forward so succinctly and instructively in so

small a compass. Dreams and old

wives' fables make up the staple of most modern books on the future, but this is composed of solid and sober teaching. We wish Mr. Reid would reconsider the pre-millenial question; but whatever a minister's views on that point, he will be all the richer for possessing this excellent work.

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