G.

Of triumph deck'd her infant brow,
And then a radiant crimson glow

Play'd round her dimpled cheek; and then
She sought the gurgling stream again:
But, oh! sad fate; for while she bent
To pluck a rush, headlong she went
Into the stream, and there was drown'd!
For soon her lifeless corpse was found.

Stretch'd on the grass the infant lay,
Her youthful form as cold as clay;
Her cheeks were pale as fleecy snow,
Void of their former rosy hue;
Ceas'd was the prattle of her tongue;
No more she sung her infant song;
For the cold hand of icy death,
In waters deep had stopt her breath;
Thus like a flower cut down she fell,
But O, our grief, what tongue can tell!

R. H. N.

"THE MORNING FLOWERS."

So blooms the human face divine,
When youth its pride of beauty shows:
Fairer than spring the colours shine,
And sweeter than the virgin rose.

Or worn by slowly-rolling years,
Or broke by sickness in a day,
The fading glory disappears,

The short-lived beauties die away.

Yet these, new rising from the tomb,
With lustre brighter far shall shine;
Revive with ever-during bloom,

Safe from diseases and decline.

Let sickness blast, and death devour,

If heaven must recompense our pains:
Perish the grass, and fade the flower,
If firm the word of God remains.

You cannot, my dear young readers, know too much about Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world. Sometimes I think I do not say enough to you about him. There is no power like his power to save usthere is no love like his love to bless us-there is no name like his name for glory and renown-all other names will fade away, but his will endure for ever!

For many hundreds of years the people, especially the descendants of Abraham the friend of God, had to live on the faith and hope that the Great Saviour, of whose glory all their prophets had said such great things, would one day make his appearance. The last of them, Malachi, said, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."

With such predictions as these in their hands, and knowing that they were made by the living, and true, and faithful God, the people might well indulge the most extraordinary expectations respecting the longpromised Saviour of the world.

At length the time for the appearance of the Promised One arrived, and his advent into our world was attended by such extraordinary and supernatural appearances as fully attested his divinity and glory. Angels sang his birth-day song, and a star lighted the enquiring wise men of the east to the place where he was born. The providence of God watched over his infancy, and protected him from the cruel designs of a suspicious tyrant. He spent his youth and early manhood in comparative obscurity, among a proverbially rude and ignorant people, until the time came for his manifestation as the Son of God, in accordance with the ancient predictions respecting Him. In this character he was first recognized in the waters of Jordan at his baptism.

Now read Matt. iii. 16, 17. And afterwards, more than once, did the voice from the excellent glory make him known as the Son of God, as you may find on reading_the 12th chapter of John, and the 9th chapter of Luke.

What attestations are these of the character of Jesus Christ as the Son of God! If the testimony of

JESUS CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.

honest men is great-the testimony of God is greater. Here we have both. Higher we need not seek. But in further proof that he was the son of God with power, his mighty acts bear witness.

"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." And be it noted that these mighty acts, in strong contrast to the tricks of heathen priests and priestesses, were done in open day and in all places, without pre-concertment or pre-arrangement.

And further, his wisdom was perfect. He "knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." "And all bore him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth." His very enemies declared, “Never man spake like this man." Yes, and you may go now, and I will give you the nearly 2000 more years to boot which have since passed over, and you shall collate from all the writings and sayings of the best and wisest men of all ages and nations, and not be able to put together from the whole mass of them such sepecimens of chaste and simple eloquence-such lessons of peace and love-as are to be found in the inimitably beautiful addresses of Jesus of Nazareth. He must be the Son of God

who uttered them.

And yet it may be said, Prophets wrought mighty acts. Yes, they did, but only as special instuments. Jesus did all his mighty acts himself—for instance, he raised the dead in his own name, and therefore by his own power.

But in order to complete his high character, and set him above all comparison—he was holy. "Which of you convinceth me of sin," was his unanswered and unanswerable challenge. Not a single flaw could his lynx-eyed enemies, always watching, discover in his gestures, or conduct, or speech. Who else but a perfectly holy being would have dared to make such a challenge, or could have endured such a vigorous and restless scrutiny? Could the best of mankind? Take them and try.

Yes: it was said of Him ere he came into the world, "he will magnify the law and make it honourable." Jesus Christ did: he shewed unto all men that the law of God is "holy, and just, and good," and how it could be kept without breaking it at all in thought, or word, or deed. Only think of a world full of men and women living and acting as Jesus Christ did; and where would be found any sin or misery, any oppression or bloodshed, any crime or cruelty? All would be happy because all would be holy. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Alas, all we are sinners; and he alone of all in human form was holy.

But this it was which qualified him to restore man to the favour of the Most High, clothed in the garments of salvation and praise. Let us now see how this was worked out by him.

"He died for us." And these few words may be said to comprehend the whole matter. But we must explain and understand how it was that he, by his death, brought life to man. The prophets, who went before, pointed out Messiah as a sufferer, not for himself, but for others. Fain would I here quote the whole of the fifty-third chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. But I need not; it is well known; and he who now reads this can turn to it and mark it well.

Jesus Christ himself often reminded his friends that he had come to suffer and to die. To the Jewish