HERE was a king who exercised universal

sovereignty: he was King of Kings. In one part of his dominions, through the wickedness of the inhabitants, all the lights were extinguished and all means of renewing them destroyed; consequently the pall of night lay continually on that land. "The light was as darkness." "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people."

Around the King's palace there was light -beautiful, glorious, and continuous; and the King was anxious that his poor benighted subjects should not remain in the miserable state we have described.

There was a great distance between the King's palace and these subjects, yet he often caused rays of light to be reflected from his throne upon the people who dwelt in darkness. He had invited them all to visit him and dwell in his beautiful country, where there was no night, where they should have no sorrow, and all their wants would be supplied.

But very few of the people took advantage of the kindness of the King in sending these. occasional rays of light, of his invitations, or of the lamps which the King sent his servants to hold up on the road.

Noah held up a lamp for one hundred and twenty years. Moses displayed a lamp which burnt so brightly that the people could not endure the light. Elijah, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, John, and others were "burning and shining lights."

The people treated some of them very badly they beat some, stoned some, and others they killed. The King, finding that so few of the people who dwelt in darkness found their way to the palace, but that they continued in their miserable contioned, determined that he would send his

own Son to light up such a lamp as had never before been seen; and whereas the lamps of Moses and others only benefited a small portion of the dark world, this light was to illuminate the whole earth. "The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light."

In due time the King's Son came with his lamp exceeding in brightness every other. He was called the "Morning Star," the "Sun of Righteousness." "He was the true light that lighteth every man."

But though the lamp of the King's Son shed a great and glorious light on the dark world, yet he, being wondrously wise, designed that the inhabitants who had come to the light should themselves light a lamp by his large lamp, and then show the light to their neighbours and friends. By this means millions found the road, and got safe to the palace of the King.

But how did the King's Son get the people to feel interested in one another? Why, when they came to his light he told them they were all relations, and that he was their "elder brother," and that the King was their father and loved them all; and he looked upon them with such a look of love that he melted their hearts. They began first to love him for making them so happy and showing them the way to the beautiful land, and then to feel a desire that their friends and neighbours should be happy too, and go with them to see the wonders of the palace of the great King.

The old and the young, the rich and the poor, even little children carried lamps lighted by the great lamp of the King's Son; and some of the darkest and most miserable districts were lighted up, and the inhabitants began to set out for the far-off palace of the King.

Another important reason why the King wished the people to have the light was, that they were continually dying; and if they died without light, they sank into a darker and more miserable place, and their condition was far worse than in their benighted land. Now you understand my parable. I want you all to be spiritual lamp-lighters; get your lamps lighted for your own benefit and for the benefit of others.

One lamp will light a number of people on their way; so you, little as you are, of small influence, may do much good. Go in imagination to ten thousand Sundayschools scattered in heathen countries, and see the lamps being lighted which shall by and by illuminate the dark places of the earth, and turn night into glorious day. Those who carry lamps are called "children

J

THE

HE Lion belongs to a family of the cat kind, in which the organs of destruction reach their highest development. All the members of this family are exceedingly strong in their jaws and in their fore feet. At the present time, lions are to be found. only in Asia and Africa, but in past ages they were also to be found in Europe. There are also countries in Asia and Africa, such as Egypt and Palestine, in which lions were plentiful years ago, but now they are never seen. The African lion is every year retiring before the persecution of man farther and farther from the Cape, and it is not unlikely that in the course of time lions will become extinct.

The lion is sometimes called "the king of the forest," but the title is not very applicable, as he is nearly always to be met with on the plain. The low cover that creeps along the sides of streams, the patches that mark the springs, or the rank

of light," they are promised a reward if they succeed in lighting to the palace of the King any of their friends and neighbours. Do not you feel an interest in the heathen?

We feel an interest in a country where we have a relative or a friend; how eagerly we catch at anything in the newspaper concerning it.

The heathen are our brethren; let us send them the Gospel, it is the only cure for the sin and misery of humanity. Ought we not then to send it to the ends of the earth?

The "first-born among many brethren," our "elder brother," is waiting to cheer and aid us in our efforts, and to lead the wanderers to a Father's house and a Father's bosom. Who among you will say, 66 Little as I am, I will, by God's grace, help in this glorious work?" J. J. M.

ION.

grass of the valley, seem to be the shelter which the African lion for the most part seeks. Of the strength of this variety we have most extraordinary examples on record. To carry off a man appears to be a feat of no difficulty to this powerful creature. Indeed, when we find that a Cape lion seized. a heifer in his mouth, and, though the legs dragged upon the ground, seemed to carry her off with the same ease that a cat does a rat, leaping with her over a broad dike without the least difficulty-that another, and a young one too, conveyed a horse about a mile from the spot where he had killed it and that a third, which had carried off a two-year-old heifer, was followed on the track for five hours by horsemen, when it appeared that throughout the whole distance the carcass of the heifer was only once or twice discovered to have touched the ground-the carrying away of a man shrinks into insignificance.

Though mortal accidents frequently happen while hunting lions, yet the cool sportsman seldom fails in using his rifle with effect. Lions, when roused, walk off quietly at first, and if no cover is near, and they are not pursued, they gradually mend their pace to a trot, till they have reached a good distance, when they bound away. If they are pursued closely, they turn and crouch, with their faces to their adversary; then the nerves of the sportsman are tried. If he is

collected, the well-directed rifle ends the scene at once; but if, in the flutter of the moment, the vital parts are missed, or the ball passes by, leaving the lion unhurt, the infuriated beast charges on his enemies, dealing destruction around him. There is hardly a book of African travels which does not teem with the dangers and hair-breadth escapes of lion-hunters, and hardly one that does not include a fatal issue to some engaged in this hazardous sport.

HAT night, in the house of the blind.

man, the widow was not forgotten, nor the prisoners either. The thought of their condition mingled with the prayers of the night. The recollection of their condition mingled with the earliest prayers of the morning too, and Amos wondered what could be done. A year or two ago, and the punishment for this offence would have. been death, and it was certain that in this case the punishment would be transportation, and for a very long term of years; and Amos did not wish to avert the punishment from the heads of the two elder brothers; but he thought of the lonely, desolate old woman, with no one to live for, no one to love, no one to cherish, and he did long to save her youngest for her. But how could it be done? As to Farmer Purton-in whose house the burglary had been committed he was inflexible, because he was stolid; he had acute feeling for all the lower animal wants and gratifications, but none for the more Divine and holy instincts of our nature. He was a surly, purse-proud farmer, alive to all the necessity of revenge, but not to the sacred blessedness of forgiveness; ordinarily he was like iron, cold and

* From "Blind Amos." By Rev. Paxton Hood.

unbending.

His passion made him like iron red-hot, and in such a state he had committed many acts of petty cruelty, which were not forgotten in the village when his name was mentioned. It did not seem as though there was much to be expected from his sympathy, and yet Amos had had the daring to believe that he could enlist him, in some measure, in the widow's cause; for the farmer was not a bad man: he was a hard man, one of those men who are to be managed with a very gentle bit, principally by letting them have their own way. He had pride, self-will, and vanity too-an awkward mixture to manage; but, like all other animal natures, he had, too, timidity when brought into contact with a mind of superior strength.

And Amos determined on seeing and laying his hand on this bar of red-hot iron. So, very soon after breakfast, he seized his stick, and started along on his cheerful, thoughtful, lonely, although lightless way. He was a privileged person was Amos; he did not presume on this, but no one thought of treating him with less respect than the clergyman or the dissenting minister. He was, indeed, usually called Amos, but the respect was a great deal more substantial