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REFLECTIONS FOR THE LAST NIGHT OF 1867.

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REFLECTIONS FOR THE LAST NIGHT OF 1867.*

ANOTHER year has passed away, leaving but the memory of its mingled joys and sorrows. I would gratefully acknowledge God's goodness during the past year, and humbly trust Him for similar mercies during the year which is to

come.

My path is marked out by a loving, unerring Father's hand; therefore I will not fear.

If trials are appointed me, I know that He will give me strength to bear them. His promise standeth sure, "As thy day so shall thy strength be."

If suffering be my lot, then let me see in it the hand of Love! May His strength be made perfect in my weakness, for He hath said, "My grace is sufficient for thee."

Should happiness brighten my path, then let me own the Hand that gives it; He it is who crowneth us with lovingkindness and tender mercy.

Thus, in whatever circumstances I may be placed, let me discern God's gracious care, and let me repose on the faithfulness of Him" in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

"As the care of an evil Christian, when he is sick, is to desire to be whole, only to live and enjoy the pleasures of the world: even so the desire of a good Christian, when he is diseased, is to be whole, not so much to live, as to glorify God and to reform his life." May this last object be my aim in the coming year!

I would lament the sinfulness and short-comings of the past year, and repair afresh to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. O blessed Jesus,

wash me in Thy most precious blood and make my heart clean. Help me this year to live daily, hourly upon Thee; and may my utter weakness find refuge in Thy almighty strength! Help me to

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glorify Thy name! Make me wise in winning souls to Thee! Grant me a larger measure of Thy Holy Spirit's influence, to elevate and ennoble my life, and to make it more Christlike! Let this new year be a year spent for Thee, and then it will be a truly happy one. If spared to see its close, may it find me wiser and stronger in the heavenly life! Or if Thou shouldst take me to dwell with Thee above, be with me as I pass through the waters, and then may Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me!

Thus will I enter the new year with the glad thought that Thou, my Father and Friend, art with me, and, casting away every thought of self, go forward 'fight the good fight of faith," hoping at last to "lay hold upon eternal life."

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I would, at the beginning of the year, consecrate myself anew to the service of that Saviour who has bought me with His blood. Let every talent and faculty I possess be devoted to His glory. I need Divine guidance and Almighty protection during this year; but above all I need Thee, precious Jesus! Without Thee all things would be dark. Thou art the Light of my soul; shine more and more into my heart, and let Thy bright beams dispel the clouds of doubt and unbelief which obscure my view of Thee. Without Thee my heart would be filled with fear; but Thy voice speaks in tones at once of tenderness and encouragement, "Be not afraid; only believe." I need Thy unfailing sympathy; I need Thy unchanging love. Let me but be assured that Thou Thyself wilt be with me, and I shall enter the new year with joyful steps, knowing that all will be well, for "as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth even for evermore."

K.

As copies of the Treasury for January will doubtless be in the hands of subscribers some little space of time before the knell of the old year will have been rung, the writer of these "Reflections" ventures to hope that they will not be considered either ill-timed or out of place.

PARABLES AND SIMILITUDES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

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some time the sunlight brightened the western sky, even when the orb itself had sunk beneath the horizon; but after awhile the last faint streaks of glory died away, and left him, lost and desolate, to wander alone through the gloom. Yet, had he been travelling with companions, and in a position of comfort and safety, there was much around him that would have filled him with admiration. Above him rose the solemn arches of heaven, cloudless, and lighted with the innumerable lamps of the night. The moon, a tiny crescent, looked like some royal vessel sailing amid a purple ocean, and surrounded by a fleet of golden boats. At length the wanderer came to the bank of a river, and there down in the dark water he saw reflected all the magnificent jewellery of the sky, and felt a thrill almost of horror pass through his frame as he gazed upon what seemed to him to be a mockery of light and beauty. How cold it looked, and how desolate! The stream flowed on, slightly brightened, but not warmed, by the midnight splendour; and, as it rolled past him, it seemed to the shivering traveller like an emblem of the radiance that sometimes shines upon the dark current of death, which is ever sweeping through our world.

But he was not to be left altogether desolate. Above the stars, watching over

the footsteps of His creatures, sat One who directed the wanderer's course. After following for awhile the windings of the river, he saw before him, at a little distance, the light of a cottage window. How brightly it glowed, and how, like a friendly welcome, streamed the red rays of the firelight through the gloom! He knocked, and was admitted to the peasant's hearth; and when he was warmed with the blaze, and strengthened with the food the labouring people set before him, he acknowledged that the comfort of the household fire had done more for him than all the brilliance of the starry heavens.

Is this a parable?

Yes there are too many who receive the truth from heaven as a river receives the light of the stars,-unwarmed and uninfluenced by it. But we need to draw near it, as we draw near the household blaze, that we may be cheered by its brightness and fitted to pursue our journey through the world.

Thus also, when the great Master appeared, to deliver the world from its bondage, He took not on Him the nature of angels; for had He done this He would have been so far above us that though we might have been filled with awe at the sight of His splendour, we could not have appreciated the perfection of His love: but He became a Man of Sorrows, and an earthly wanderer, that through human sympathy, as by the heat of a fire that melts the metal and moulds it to another form, He might draw us to Himself, and fashion us at last to His Divine resemblance.

SCRIPTURE WORDS AND PHRASES.
No. I.

ENGLISHMEN have reason to be un-
speakably thankful not only for the free
circulation of a cheap Bible, but also
for its possession in a form so admirable
as our "authorised version." Those

who are wont reverently to trace the workings of Divine Providence in the events of history cannot fail to note the fact that at the time when the English tongue had acquired the largest amount

of vigour and expression, having been polished and enriched by a succession of the greatest writers in prose and verse, the reigning sovereign (James I.) felt called upon to order the publication of a new version of the sacred text, revised by an assembly of the most eminent scholars in the English Church. The nation already enjoyed the use of two or three versions of the Bible, each possessing peculiar excellences and defects; and it was the aim of those divines who were entrusted with the task of revision to incorporate the excellences and exclude the defects of their predecessors, so as to produce a translation which might faithfully present to the English reader the meaning of the inspired volume. The work was executed most successfully, being issued in the year 1611; and the result is a version which, even in a mere literary point of view, is surprisingly elegant and vigorous in language. This may be clearly observed by comparing it with the Romish translation, commonly called the Douai Bible, which abounds with uncouth words and harsh turns of expression.

Owing, however, to that continual process of change which all things earthly undergo, and notably the languages of nations, there are a few words in our Bible that, in the lapse of two centuries, have passed out of use in common speech and writing. Some of these may fail to convey to the modern reader the full meaning of the sacred text, unless he bear in mind the sense in which they were understood by the translators. We therefore propose occasionally to devote a small space to illustrating and explaining a few of these unfamiliar or obsolete words and phrases, and thus aid the student to the full comprehension of those passages in which they occur.

Let us begin with a word which frequently occurs in the Scriptures in a sense very different from that in which it is employed in our day. In 1 Sam. xvi. 16 Saul's servants thus address their master, "Let our lord now command thy servants which are before

thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp." Here is meant a man skilled or accomplished in that species of music, cunning being derived from an Anglo-Saxon verb signifying to know. Hawes, a poet of the sixteenth century, speaks of

"Plato, the cunning and famous clerk, That well expert was in philosophy."

In the old translation of Pliny, by Holland, we read of a Macedonian artist that he taught none his cunning under a talent of silver," that is, he instructed no one in his art for less than a talent. It would be easy to multiply examples; but the following, with those given above, will suffice: Ascham, in his "Schoolmaster," writing of Sir John Cheke, styles him "the cunningest master and one of the worthiest gentlemen that ever England bred." It will thus be seen that in olden times the idea of fraud or trickery was not attached to this word, as it is in our times.

The prophet Isaiah, in denouncing the Divine judgments against the "daughter of Zion" (chap. iii. 18), writes that "the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments." We now use the word bravery only to signify personal courage; but we find the word in many passages of our old writers employed to denote ostentation, gaudiness of apparel or furniture, etc. It is in this way that Lord Bacon uses the word in a passage of his Essays." "For jousts, and tourneys, and barriers, the glories of them are chiefly in the chariots,

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or in the bravery of their liveries, or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armour." In the following extract from Gascoigne's poems the term is applied to the brilliant colours of plants and flowers:

"Alas! quoth she, behold each pleasant green Will now renew his summer's livery: The fragrant flowers, which have not long been seen,

Will flourish now, ere long, in bravery."

In a similar sense Milton uses the word in his "Samson Agonistes," where we find the ensuing passage relating to Delilah :

"But who is this, what thing of sea or land,Female of sex it seems,

That so bedecked, ornate and gay,
Comes this way sailing

Like a stately ship

Of Tarsus, bound for the isles
Of Javan or Gadire,

With all her bravery on, and tackle trim ?"

A passage in the 2nd book of Chronicles, chap. xxi., ver. 20, sounds strangely to most readers. We are there told of Jehoram that "he departed [died] without being desired." This is equi

valent to our modern expression, "he died unregretted." The great and good Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, says of a godly woman that "she shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies." In Chapman's version of Homer's Iliad, too, the noun desire is employed to signify regret.

We shall take an opportunity to recur to this subject in a future number, and hope to present our readers with many explanations of remarkable Bible words.

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THE Swallow is the joyous harbinger of the year, and of its best season. Winter is unknown to him, and he leads a life of enjoyment among the loveliest forms of nature. That wonderful power or principle of instinct teaches him always when and whither to move; he knows his appointed seasons, a knowledge derived from a Divine source, the great, omnipotent, and all-wise Deity!

This beautiful bird has ever been a welcome visitor in all lands, and will be welcomed while the seasons last. Poets of all ages have hailed his advent in their own peculiar and beautiful versification.

"The welcome guest of settled spring,

The swallow, too, has come at last!
Just at sunset, when thrushes sing,
I saw her dash with rapid wing,
And hailed her as she passed."

Cuvier, the great naturalist, in his later years loved to recount the incident which first directed his attention to the study of natural history. While young and poor, he acted as tutor to the children of a French count. Cuvier's room looking toward the garden, early every morning he opened his window for the fresh air before commencing the lessons of the day, and one morning noticed two swallows building their nest in the outer angle of his small window. The male brought moist clay in his beak; the hen kneaded, as it were, this with bits of straw and hay, and thus formed their future home. The framework completed, they hastened to line the inside

with dried leaves, feathers, and wool; and the whole being finished for housekeeping, they departed to a neighbourbouring wood, not returning for several days.

The philosopher had also remarked two sparrows on the neighbouring chimney, who seemed to watch with much curiosity the progress of the swallows' new home. Their object very soon became apparent; for no sooner had the owners left than the sparrows took possession of the nest, establishing themselves as if in their own property; both never absenting themselves, for one always remained on the watch with its sturdy bill protruding from the entrance, and ready to exclude every stranger. Honeymoon over, the rightful owners returned; and what was their surprise to find the new nest pre-occupied! The enraged male, flying indignantly against his dwelling to expel the intruders, met the defying beak of the male sparrow, which soon repulsed the unlucky proprietor, and with a loss too of a bleeding head and ruffled feathers. bright eye fairly darted fire; and trembling with rage and shame he sought his bride, perched on a green bough, when, seeming for a few moments to consult together, they took flight together and disappeared.

His

Presently Mrs. Sparrow returned, when, as Cuvier imagined, her husband gave her an animated account of his adventure. But the lucky pair did not waste much time in chatting, and by turns

hastened to collect a store of provisions. Soon, however, cries resounded in the air, and crowds of swallows began to assemble on the neighbouring roof, the expelled householders readily distinguished among them, and seemingly making their wrongs known. Not less than two hundred thus assembled in full conclave, and while all engaged in chattering a cry of distress came from one of the window-sills. A young swallow, doubtless tired of the long debate, had pursued some flies buzzing about the window, where Cuvier's pupils had placed a snare to catch the birds; and here the poor little captive found one of his slender legs entangled in the cruel horsehair.

At the cry of the prisoner some twenty of his brethren, flying toward him, tried to free him, but in vain; their efforts only tightened his bonds. Suddenly, as if by one consent, the whole flock wheeled into the air, and one by one, gliding by, gave a sharp peck at the snare until it snapped in two, the freed prisoner joyfully joining his kind companions.

During this exciting scene the philosopher near by remained motionless and watchful, when suddenly, and quick as thought, a host of swallows flew against the nest, each with a bill full of mud, which he discharged against its entrance, and then gave place to another, who repeated the same operation. This, too, they managed to accomplish at two inches' distance from the nest, and out of the reach of the besieged. The attacking party continuing the attack, the nest became completely covered with the moistened earth, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of the now imprisoned sparrows to prevent such a calamity. At length, the opening being completely and hermetically closed, hundreds of little throats uttered the cries of vengeance and of victory!

The cunning swallows did not end their victory here, but, hastily bringing materials, soon built a second house or nest over the embargoed first one, and in two hours after its completion the

new abode was inhabited by the ejected owners. The happy pair, now unmolested, went to housekeeping; and, while the hen hatched her six eggs, the male supplied insects for food. Cuvier, at the end of a fortnight, saw the male was all day busy in bringing a large quantity of insects to his household, and examining the nest, he found six little yellow bills gaping wide for food. Thenceforward it became a constant source of pleasure to the tutor to watch the progress of this little bird family.

Soon their yellow became shining and black, their plumage smooth and elegant, and Mrs. Swallow accompanied them in short excursions. Autumn came, when crowds of swallows assembling on the roofs evidently held consultations, and Cuvier amused himself in trying to interpret the swallow language. The children of this nest placed with other young ones in the midst of the assembly, one morning the whole body simultaneously took flight, directing their course eastward.

The next spring two swallows, with ruffled feathers, and lean, returned and took possession of the same nest, when Cuvier immediately recognised them as the identical pair he had watched with such interest the preceding season! He knew them, and they knew him, and one morning he was awakened early by the cries of the female, who was beating the window with her wings. He ran to the nest. Alas! alas! it contained only a lifeless little body. From this moment she pined away, refusing food, never leaving the nest, and literally expired five days after the death of her beloved companion.

What a small incident often shapes our mortal course! This little history left a strong impression upon the amiable and gifted mind of the young tutor, and, leading him to devote his leisure to natural history, after some time he became the famous Cuvier, filling the chair of comparative anatomy in Paris. His glorious career afterward is a matter of history.*

* Selected.

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