helplessly along by rushing billows, neither themselves nor any one else being able to say where they shall find a resting-place. This was very observable in the late operations against Morocco. It reminds me of a striking passage in Ezekiel; "And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out from the countries wherein ye are scattered with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face: like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD." In another place it is said, by the mouth of Amos, "For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. IN THAT DAY will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old." And so the glorious promises proceed, to the last words of the prophetic book, which are these: "And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land, which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God."'

'A man must take leave of his reason before he can refuse to receive testimony so clear to three facts: first, that God hath promised a national restoration to Israel, with full and perpetual possession of the land of Canaan; secondly, that such promise has never yet been fulfilled; and thirdly that we see before us every token that it is now on the eve of accomplishment. The circumstance to which you have alluded, of the extraordinary prominency given to Israel, and almost every where a painful and a trying one, amid the rising confusion of Gentile nations, is one of deep moment. With our gaze steadily fixed on this phenomenon we shall not lack a key to any event that might otherwise startle us. And, praise be to our God! every such movement is a new,asure token that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." How calming, how cheering, how elevating is that anticipation to a mind and spirit tossed on the now roaring waves of this troublesome world! Now, indeed, may we say with more than dear Luther's appreciation of it, "Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm." I know of none more suitable to our times, our wants, our hopes and convictions.'

'Every passing week will endear it more to us, uncle. I scarce can look for any continued lull of these stormy elements now brought into actual collision. I hardly think that France will rest till we or some other European power take up the gauntlet which she so fretfully casts down; and war once entered upon, when will it cease?'

When Christ hath put every enemy under his feet, and not before. The first public downfall will be the signal of that sure word's fulfilment, "I will

overturn, overturn, overturn, till He come whose right it is." It will be a fearful crash!'

• When I pass by water to London, and look upon the tiers of vessels bearing flags of all nations, as they lie peacefully moored side by side on the noble Thames, I feel it hard to realize the hour that shall set nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, in fierce and deadly strife.'

Have you forgotten the Russian frigate off Gravesend?'

I never shall forget it, nor the feelings that it gave rise to. Beautiful, elegant, tranquil, as she appeared, lying calmly at sunset on the river's breast, with all around her breathing security and repose, still, uncle, I could not look on the crowned eagle that seemed bursting in burnished gold from her lofty prow, and think of peace.'

Yet peace is ours; such peace as the world's softest smile cannot give, nor can her most withering frown, her fiercest battle-cry, take it away. Such peace may we all have grace to seek from Him who alone can bestow it, Jesus, the Prince of Peace! That the signs of the times are tremendously threatening, no one even attempts to dispute; but we who believe have a promise that we must seek to have sealed to us: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

:

THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

OCTOBER, 1844.

A ROMISH LEGEND.

WE have just completed a series of Chapters on History: we are about, with the Divine permission, to enter on another series, touching one of the most interesting and instructive of all historical records ; and, as usual, we avail ourselves of the intermediate rest to introduce a stray chapter.

Our readers need not be reminded of the enduring spirit of persecution manifested by the Romish Church against the people of Israel; but that pains should be taken at this day to keep alive the bitter hatred of the credulous people on the same grounds and by the same impiously-absurd fables as in the darkest ages, may require some proof to establish it as a fact. We have that proof now before us, in the form of a small thick pamphlet, bearing the impress of "Bruxelles, 1835," and purchased in that city a few weeks since, of a book seller who appeared anxious to confine the sale to those of his own communion, among the poorer classes of whom especially OCTOBER, 1844.

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it was circulated even at the doors of the churches. It is entitled "Histoire de très saint Sacrament de Miracle, depuis l'an 1369 jusqu'à ce jour.” The frontispiece exhibits a sort of open bee-hive, wherein is seated a man, the mitre on whose head would seem to indicate the Pope; but the glory around it usually appertains, in Romish pictures, to Him whom their idolatrous rites so deeply dishonour. This machine is surmounted by three crowns, and upborne in the arms of sundry little winged boys; while many more peep over the edges of the clouds to greet it. To this style of embellishment some of our own publishers are rapidly approximating; and we note it the rather as a sort of waymark, tending to exhibit our retrogression towards Rome.

The first chapter of this fabulous tale is headed, "Haine des Juifs contre Jesus-Christ." Truly that which they blasphemously term Jesus Christ may well be hated by a people alway so solemnly warned, often so terribly scourged by the Almighty, on account of idolatry! Throughout the whole work that adorable Name is applied exclusively to sundry old wafers hoarded up, it would seem, in Brussels, under the title of the Sacrament of the Miracle, in consequence of their marvellous escape from the hands of certain Jews, who stole and secreted in order to insult it. Now it is notorious that the strict Jews do carefully keep themselves from the contamination of any accursed thing, such as an idol; and that they would not defile their houses, much less their synagogues, with its presence; while those Jews who are not earnest in their own faith would be the least likely of all people to bring down certain vengeance on their own heads by an uncalled-for outrage on the