is my boy? I can't get drunk now, and forget thy sorrows! I am wounded! I am dying! Vengeance has overtaken me! Oh, the terrors of a guilty conscience!”

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Overwhelmed with pity, love, joy, and wonder, Poor Jack, in an agony of tears, fell on the neck of the old sailor, crying, "My father, my father! behold your son, your boy! I did not perish; the ship's boat saved me. Oh, there is mercy for you, my father, my father!" "What!" cried the trembling and astonished old man, are you my boy, my own child? the lad I dashed from the pier ?" Yes, my father, believe me!—I am, I am! Ever since you have been wounded, I have felt the most unaccountable attraction towards you; day by day, my bowels have yearned over you. I loved you more than any man I ever saw. I counted myself most happy to read and pray with you. I often wondered at my feeling; the mystery is now explained. I have been attending my father; I have been comforting my father!" "My child; yes, thou art my child! I see the features of my dear Mary!" A mutual flood of tears prevented either speaking for some minutes. At length the youth exclaimed, "Merciful God, how wondrous are thy ways! Oh, save, save, I beseech thee, a father whom thou hast graciously spared, and with whom thou hast so unexpectedly brought me acquainted!"

Jack paused; the father rejoiced; joy and gratitude beamed in his countenance. Heaven smiled on the dying man; a still small voice communicated to his soul a peace which passeth all understanding. But the scene grows too painful. Suffice to say, Poor Jack's father lived several days after this, and died rejoicing in God.

A year or two passed over; the war ended. The ship was paid off; and Jack, being cast ashore, employed his time and talents in urging sinners to flee for refuge to Jesus Christ.

The speaker paused; the audience was deeply affected; every eye was fixed upon him, anxiously waiting the sequel, when, bowing most gracefully to the assembly, he, with much modesty and humility, exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, in the relator of this anecdote you now see Poor Jack !"--(Communicated by E. W., City Walls.)

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

JEWISH PRIESTS, THEIR GARMENTS AND OFFICE. WHAT is a priest? A priest, under the law of Moses, was a person consecrated and ordained of God, to offer up sacrifices both for his own sins and for those of the people (Lev. iv. 5, 6).

The priesthood was not fixed to one family till after the giving of the law of Moses. Before that time, the first-born of every family-the fathers, the princes, and the kings-were priests. Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job, Abimelech and Laban, Isaac and Jacob, offered their own sacrifices. But, afterwards, the Lord chose the tribe of Levi to serve him in his tabernacle, and the priesthood was annexed to the family of Aaron; then the right of offering sacrifices to God was reserved alone to the priests of this family.

It was not customary for the priests to wear the sacerdotal dress, except when performing their official duties (Exod. xxviii. 4, 43; Ezek. xlii. 14; xliv. 19). The description of the dress of the priests is given partly in Exod. xxviii. Some additional information is communicated to us by Josephus; but the

dress of the priests as he describes it may have been in some respects of later origin. It was as follows: first, a sort of hose made of cotton or linen, which was fastened round the loins, and extended down so as to cover the thighs (Lev. xi. 10; Ezek. xliv. 18). Second, a tunic of the same, which extended, in the days of Josephus, down to the ankles; it was furnished with sleeves, and was fabricated all of one piece, without being seamed (Exod. xxviii. 39, 41; xxix. 5; John xix. 23). Third: the girdle. According to Josephus, it was a hand's breadth in width, woven in such a manner as to exhibit the appearance of scales, and ornamented with embroidered flowers in purple, dark blue, scarlet, and white. It was worn a little below the breast, encircled the body twice, and was tied in a knot before; the extremities of the girdle hung down nearly to the ankle. The priest, when engaged in his sacred

duties, in order to prevent his being impeded by them, threw them over his left shoulder (Exod. xxxix. 2, 7, 29). Fourth: the mitre or turban originally was a lofty head-dress, pointed at the top, and was bound upon the head (Exod. xxviii. 8, 40; xxix. 9; Lev. viii. 13). In the time of Josephus the shape of the mitre had become somewhat altered; it was then circular in its form, and covered with a piece of fine linen. The Hebrew priests, like those of Egypt and other nations, performed their sacred duties with naked feet; a symbol of reverence and veneration (Exod. iii. 5; Joshua x. 15).

The ordinary priests served immediately at the altar, offered sacrifice, killed and flayed them, and poured the blood at the foot of the altar (2 Chron. xxix. 34; xxxv. 11). They kept a perpetual fire burning upon the altar of sacrifices, and in the lamps of the golden candlestick that was in the sanctuary; they prepared the loaves of shewbread, and changed them every Sabbath day. Every day, night, and morning, a priest brought into the sanctuary a smoking censer, and set it upon the golden altar.

The priests were not suffered to offer incense to the Lord with strange fire (Lev. x. 1, 2); that is, with any other fire than that taken from the altar of burnt sacrifices. Nadab and Abihu were destroyed for having used strange fire. One of the employments of the priests was the instruction of the people and deciding their controversies.

The term priest is most properly given to Christ, of whom the high priests under the law were types and figures; he being the High Priest, especially ordained of God, who by the sacrifice of himself, and by his intercession, opens the way to reconciliation with God (Heb. viii. 17; ix. 11, 25). The word is also applied to every true Christian, who is enabled to offer up a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Christ.

When we approach God in prayer, we should remember that our Great High Priest pleads our cause in the holy place and makes intercession for us. Through the efficacy of his atoning sacrifice and intercession, the promises of mercy, grace, and salvation are fulfilled. Hence we are both invited and commanded to come with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in the time of need.

NEHEMIAH, THE CUPBEARER.

WHO was Nehemiah? Read the book that bears his name, and you will find that he was cupbearer to the King of Persia. He was a good man, a pious Jew, distinguished as a reformer

of the people's manners, and the chief instrument in the hand of God in causing the ruined walls of Jerusalem to be erected, and the city once more restored to strength and prosperity.

This good man lived at the time that the Jews were delivered from Babylonish captivity and restored to their own land. Probably he lived at the city of Shushan, which was then the royal residence; and, while here, he was introduced to the king's palace and made his cupbearer-an office of great honour, and one which frequently brought him into the king's presence.

Here he might have remained in ease, wealth, and honour, but he was a pious man, and, like Moses, loved his God and his afflicted people more than the luxuries and dignities of a royal residence. For neither the honour and advantage of a palace, nor the long settlement of his family out of Judea, could make him forget his own people, or lessen his zeal for the religion of his forefathers. For though he had been born and brought up in a strange land, yet had he a great love for Sion, and a heart thoroughly set for the advancing its prosperity. Therefore, when some people came from Jerusalem and told him of the bad state of that city, how its walls were still in many places broken down, and the gates in the same

demolished state as when burnt with fire by the Babylonians, and that the remnant of the people that dwelt there lay open to the incursions and insults of their enemies, and to the reproach and contempt of their neighbours, the good man applied himself by fasting and prayer unto the Lord his God, for his people of Israel, and the place which he had chosen for his worship.

And having thus implored the divine mercy on behalf of his country, he resolved next to make his application to the king for help. And, therefore, when his turn came next to wait in his office, the king, observing his countenance to be sad, and asking the cause thereof, he took this opportunity to lay before him the distressed state of his country, and owning this to be a cause of great grief and sadness to him, he prayed the king to send him thither to remedy it. His petition was granted, and a royal decree was issued for the building of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, and Nehemiah was sent thither with it as governor of the province of Judea to put it in execution. And, to do him the more honour, the king sent a guard of horse with him, under the command of some of the captains of his army, to conduct him in safety to his government, and wrote letters to several governors to help him in the work on which he was sent. The king also gave his order to Asaph, the keeper of his forests in those parts, to allow him as much timber out of them as should be needed for the finishing of it. However, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Samaritans, and other neighbouring nations round about, did all they could to hinder him from proceeding therein. And to this opposition they were excited not only by the ancient and bitter enmity which those people bore to the whole Jewish nation, but especially at this time because of their lands. For, during the time that the Jews were in captivity, these nations, having seized their lands, were forced to restore them on their return. For which reason they did all they could to oppose their re-settlement, hoping that, if the Jews could be kept low, they might find an opportunity, some time or other, of resuming the prey they had lost. But Nehemiah was not at all discouraged thereat; for having on his arrival at Jerusalem made known to the people the commission with which he was sent, he took a view of the ruins of the old walls and immediately set about repairing them, dividing the people into several companies, and assigning to each of them the quarter where they were to work, but reserving to himself the direction of the whole. In this undertaking he laboured so effectually that all was accomplished by the end of the month Elul, within the compass of fifty-two