declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath crdained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

There was an oration to the greatest philosophers in the world, with 30,000 idol gods around them! How eloquent, clear, and forcible !

Paul, you know, was this orator at Athens, and what did he teach? He taught first of GOD, that he is the creator, and consequently the governor of all things. That God is a spirit. That God is omnipresent. That God is self-existent. He next taught of man as God's creature. That mankind are all one common family. That God's providence is exercised over man. That man is to repent and seek the Lord. That the dead shall rise. That mankind are to be judged by Jesus Christ.

When Paul arrives at this point it is plain, by the restlessness of his audience, that he is treading on new ground. Some depart, others rise to speak, and others are full of indignation. "So," said they, "there is a general resurrection!" How the epicureans and stoics frown! The former deny their connection with the gods, and doubt their existence; the latter allow their existence, but deny their ability to resist the arrangements of something they call Fate. Both are equally opposed to truth, and endeavour to stop the mouth of the truth-teller.

Thus, as in other places Paul visited, some believed the words that were spoken, and some believed not. The sacred record sums up the whole affair thus:-"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will

hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

And so closed Paul's visit to Athens. And what came of it? But little, we fear, for we hear scarcely any more of the disciples of Jesus at this celebrated city. But we learn from this narrative that the "World by wisdom knew not God." If we read the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, from the eighteenth verse to the end, we have there a true but dreadful description of human nature, when left to itself. The men of Athens were, no doubt, the wisest of the Gentile world, and yet what fools they were! "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."

And "proud philosophy" may now measure the heavens, and explore the earth, analyse substances, control the elements, and investigate the powers of the mind, but I have within the covers of my tenpenny Bible the knowledge of greater truths than any she ever taught or ever will. For this is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Newport, I. W.

R. H. C.

The above essay was sent to us a few months ago in a more extended and less perfect form, but observing in it some indications of genius, we returned it to our young friend, advising him to curtail and improve it, sparing neither time nor pains. He did so, and when returning it, said, “As you wished me I have thought my thoughts over again, and, I trust, improved them. I thank you for your kindness. I did not think that a writer of your age and experience would take such pains to benefit us.” We assure him, and all our readers, that we have no greater pleasure than in encouraging the young to cultivate the talents which God has given them. For this Essay we have forwarded to the writer our fifth Prize Book, "Memorials of the Indian Martyrs."

N.B.-Those who receive Prizes should inform us of their arrival by post. We think W. B., of Swanwick, neglected to do so.

THE HERMITS.

PAGANISM, Popery, and Mohammedanism-the three great false religions of the earth-have each produced their hermits; men who, retiring from, the world into some lonely retreat, would first excite public curiosity respecting themselves, and then make extraordinary pretensions to spiritual revelations and miraculous powers. Paganism produces many of these men, who are vile in character and loathsome in appearance. It was while leading the life of a hermit that Mahomet contrived his great imposture. But Popery has outdone all others in carrying out this system of pretension and imposition. Indeed, it is indebted to some of these men for originating many of its greatest movements. It was Peter the Hermit who first set the famous Crusades to the Holy Land in motion, which resulted in long and bloody wars, entailing suffering, wretchedness, and death on millions of men.

Sometimes.. these hermits, in their solitary cells, would fancy they heard voices and saw visions: sometimes they dreamed that some departed saint came and told them to go and do some strange thing. Peter was under some such delusion as this; and so was another of these men, who lived about 400 years after Peter, named Ignatius Loyola, the son of a Spanish nobleman, born in 1491. At sixteen years of age, being a fine-looking youth, he was sent to the court of the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella. He afterwards became a soldier, and at the siege of Pampeluna distinguished himself by his courage and boldness in defending the place. He was wounded, a cannon ball having broken one leg, and a splinter of a stone having struck the other.

As soon as he could be removed with safety he was carried to the castle of Loyola, at a short distance from Pampeluna. His surgeons were now persuaded that it was necessary to break the bones anew, in order to replace them into their natural position, having been badly set, or jolted out of place by the movement of the journey. Ignatius submitted to the operation without a groan The result was nearly fatal. A violent fever ensued: he was given over by his medical attendants.

Not content with this evidence of courage, he suffered with the same heroism the sawing off of a bony substance which had formed below the knee; and when the right leg threatened to become too short, he submitted to the painful operation of having his limb stretched by a machine of iron.