man and had assistance from his club, yet his wife found it a hard struggle to support her many children and get him what he needed in his illness. Indeed, had it not been for the help she received from the clergyman's family and other kind people, she could hardly have got on at all. Jessie and Alice had leave of absence from school for some time to help in the house and mind the little ones; and they did all they could to be of use, for it made them very sad to see their poor father so ill, and their mother so worn out with fatigue and anxiety. They found themselves also obliged to live very hard, and to go without many comforts they were accustomed to, and which could no longer be afforded them, but they felt it was the least they could do cheerfully to put up with such deprivations.

How thankful they were, when at last by the blessing of God, their father recovered and was able to go to church with them on Sundays, and to his work as usual. You may be sure they never forgot the severe lesson they had received. but that the remembrance of their evening in the wood and their father's illness often recurred to their minds as & warning against disobedience.

SNOW.

L. R. P.

BY E. C. GREEN.

SOFTLY and slow,

With a light eddying fall, the snow flakes fair,

Fill with a shimmering light the upper air,

And down descending over the dark and sere

(Bleak waste and leafless bough and pastures bare)

Hide with a veil of beauty-pure, serene,

The desolation of the wintry scene.

So on the soul,

Grace gently falls with soft and tranquil flow

Of hallowing influences that melt and blend
The ambitions and the frailties and desires,

Of chaster harmony and purer show,
Till, over all, with unstained light doth shine
The Peace, descending from the Love Divine!

Yet watch and pray!

For as a wandering footstep marks and mars
· The virgin snow-wreath, Sin has yet the power,
To dim and blot the uncertain wavering soul-
Pray humbly that even in thy firmest hour,
Thou mayest keep thy "white robe" pure and fair,
So when the Bridegroom comes, thy portion may be there!

ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS was born at Athens, and educated at Alexandria, where he spent the greater portion of his life. He thirsted after knowledge, and became deeply skilled in the profound and speculative systems of his day. Ultimately, however, he studied under Pantonus, the learned catechist of Alexandria, by whom it is supposed, he was converted to Christianity. When Pantœnus died, Clement succeeded him as head or master of the school. In those days, the pupils of the catechetical schools were so deeply versed in the philosophies of the age, that it was necessary the masters should be able to meet them on their own grounds. Hence, such men as Pantonus and Clemens were selected by the Church to teach the rudiments of Christianity. Subsequently,

Clemens was ordained a Presbyter, or Priest, and continued to teach with much success.

But when the persecutions of the Christians by the Emperor Severus took place, he endeavoured to prove to his friends that it was proper and lawful for them to withdraw. This duty he maintained from the declaration of our Lord, "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another." With this conviction, he fled from Alexandria, and passing some time at Jerusalem, retired to Antioch, where he laboured with unremitting zeal. After a residence here, marked with great hopefulness, he returned to Alexandria, where he died about A. D. 220.

He was the author of many works, of which some are still extant. Among his pupils were the celebrated Origen, who succeeded him in the mastership; and likewise, Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem.

In his style of interpretation of the Scriptures, he imitated, but not to the same extent, the allegorizing system of Origen; by which he was led to take dangerous liberties with the Word of God, and thus propagate a fruitful source of error.

His character is thus summed up by the ecclesiastical historian, Mosheim:-"But the most illustrious writer of this century, (Cent. II.) and the most justly renowned for his various erudition, and his perfect acquaintance with the ancient sages, was Clemens, the disciple of Pantœnus, and the head of the Alexandrian School, destined for the instruction of the catechumens. His Stromata, Pedagogue, and Exhortation, addressed to the Greeks, which are yet extant, abundantly shew the extent of his learning, and the force of his genius; though he is neither to be admired for the

precision of his ideas, nor for the perspicuity of his style. It is also to be lamented that his excessive attachment to the reigning philosophy led him into a variety of pernicious errors."

It is well to remember that the Gospel of our salvation is remarkable for its simplicity. A teachable mind, and a heart humbled in the sight of God, may, and will, derive from the study of it an incalculable blessing. But, in the hands of a philosophiser, the same Gospel will scarce afford any real satisfaction or advantage. The lowly-minded pupil of an English Church Sunday School, may thus be in a better position than the highly talented Catechist of Alexandria. R. E. B.

A MINIATURE.-No. II.

THE LITURGY.

In a word, in our Church-service we repent and pray; we rejoice and pray; we thank God and pray; we read and pray; we hear and pray; we preach and pray; we receive the Sacraments and pray. This is the order of our Church, which may well be called the house of prayer. Jacob, when he awaked from the dream of the ladder, said, "How reverend is this place; it is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!" So I say unto you, "Oh, how reverend is this Church of England, where God is thus served! Surely it is the House of God, and this serving of Him is the gate of Heaven."

FRANCIS MASON.

"Covetousness is the mother of poverty."

A LECTURE on the Proportion of Faith, as shewn in "the Principles of our Union with Christ,

the Head of the Church.”

(Continued from page 56,-No. 2.)

As therefore, David, at his first unction received the Spirit of God, and a full right unto the throne of Israel, which yet he was not to exercise till the death of Saul and acceptation of the tribes; and, therefore, when the tim was come, that he should actually enter upon his regal office, he was again anointed; so our Jesus, the son of David, was first sanctified and anointed with the Holy Ghost at His conception, and thereby received a right unto and was prepared for all those offices which belonged to the Redeemer of the world; but when He was to enter upon the actual and full performance of all those functions which belonged to Him, then doth the same spirit, which had sanctified Him, at His conception, visibly descend upon Him at His inauguration. And that most properly upon His Baptism, because according to the customs of those most ancient nations, washing was wont to precede their unctions; wherefore Jesus when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove." To which most well-timed words of that excellent Bishop of our Church, I think we may not unseasonably add another reflection which would bring a still closer analogy between the type and the anti-type,-between David that is and that Divine Son of David who is represented by him. We cannot fail to observe the triple or three-fold unction of the original David before he attained the full height of that