e **-> t i©TT [ReW FrAINOS FuiLIF®!^® THE CHEISTIAN'S WEDDING RIM CONTAINING FIVE LETTERS, AND A SERIES OF POEMS, WRITTEN BY A LADY WITH THE SINCERE DESIRE OF SOWING THE SEEDS OF UNION IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. §tHk9M To the Memory of a Beloved Mother. H&ontreal : PRINTED BY THE LOVELL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 1874. TFi 1111 Exchange Western Ont. Univ. Library OCT 1 9 1940 &&- SB INTRODUCTION. "WHAT IS TRUTH?" Our God abundant is in Truth, Love and practise it in youth, It is the only outward sign Of an inward grace Divine. Let nations altogether plead For one Holy Truthful creed ; One that will Christ-like fruits produce, With a new and fragrant juice. We will not then to evil cleave, Nor ourselves and friends deceive ; All will be open, pure and bright, Each a burning shining light. While strangers to this wond'rous grace Doom'd must be the human race ; But when we reproduce this gem, It the flood of sin will stem. Search then, for Truth, our God's great gift, It will all our actions sift ; When we its banner do display Never more will we decay. Then all earth's great and mighty throng, With one universal song Will chant the Great Creator's praise As they walk in wisdom's ways. |ljt |ftM' |(dAng |ng. THE SABBATH MORN". In the quiet of your chamber, In the early Sabbath dawn, Eise and converse with your Maker, Like singing-birds in the morn. We need not now, like Sainted Mary, In the grave-clothes seek our Lord,— You will find Him bright and early, He will answer you each word. From His mansion up above us He considers all our ways ; He requires no such work and fuss, As man's making now-a-days, About rituals and crosses, And some other foolish things ; 'Tis His sacraments he watches, To His Sabbath Day he clings. Oh ! watch then, ye men and maidens, Try your actions in the light, God is coming to His garden, To make all things pure and bright. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHRISTIAN'S WED- DING RING. O let me sing a note of praise, Let ev'ry note through earth resound,. One that will make all voices raise A strain to draw all nations round. It must be simple, sweet and pure, Each heart must play upon the string, The harmonies must be so sure That earth will loud its praises ring. Five tones this melody requires, Four parts to be together sung, A skilful leader full of fire, With instruments in concert strung. The words all drawn from Holy Writ, That source from which all knowledge springs r Without the hollow earthly wit Which constantly around us rings. Hear! oh ye kings, give ear princess ! Christian unity I sing. Let our love, the heart's best incense, All heathen minds to Jesus bring. When we weed and rake our garden, Cherish this sweet and lovely plant, — Earth will be the lovely Eden All our senses will enchant. The curse Christ will from earth efface When we in love God's truth embrace Man's labor will some work achieve — The Tree of Life will drop its seed. 3 To Her Royal Highness Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, Crown Princess of Prussia. Dear Christian Princess : You who have tasted all the happiness that is to be found in the world in its present state, and have also in the death of your dear father been made perfect through suffering, will perhaps be prepared to look forward with one of the humble subjects of Queen Victoria to the time when the evil spirit will be banished from the earth, and man will be restored to that state of perfect happiness in which he was first created ; but, before that time can arrive, woman must put forth her energies for the reformation of the world. It was woman's influence that induced man to disobey, it must be woman's influence that will make man obedient. God made light and goodness ; man chooses darkness and evil. This world has been and still is the battle-field of two great Spirits ; and, from the creation of man, the Evil Spirit has always succeeded in making woman a willing instrument for the accomplishment of his designs ; he has had power to tempt her with the pleasures and vanities of the world, but it must not be so now. When the seventh angel sounded we are told " The four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned," Eev. xi. \Q-Vl. When God's Holy Spirit reigns the temptations of the world will no longer prevail. From the sentence of Adam we learn that God requires perfect obedience. After God had made known his will to .Noah, respect- ing the ark, we are told that he did according to all that God commanded him. Gen. vi. 22. And to Moses God said " what thing soever I command you observe to do it, thou shall not add thereto nor diminish from it. ' Deut. xii. 32. Christ taught His disciples that no divided service would satisfy the great Father of mankind." " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," Matt. vi. 24, are His own words. Thus it is quite plain if we wish the punishment of our sins to be removed ; if we desire our last enemy, death, to be destroyed, and sickness, pain and sorrow to be with- drawn from the earth we must give up all our crooked ways, and adhere closely to the rules laid down and the example set by our Blessed Lord and Saviour in God's holy word. Common sense and one's own conscience tell us that the Bible has been written by men, not angels, under the influence of God's Holy Spirit to guide us to the paths of peace and holiness. All Christians accept it as the word of God. It is an inexhaustible mine, which has through the devices of the evil one produced different kinds of ore. But the Tree of Life, like the gold in the mine, is there, and will be found when Christians make a united effort to dig, purify and circulate the pure metal. There is not a man, woman or child living who in sight of a rich mine would not try and extract some ore for the benefit of his perishing body, yet many pious souls are contented to take the Bible second- hand, leaving the soul's nourishment in the hands of the church or sect to which the accident of birth has attached them. They thus lose the privilege of having direct intercourse with their Maker ; they fail to make themselves known to God, and must bo in danger of hearing Christ say " verily T say unto you I know you not. — " Matt. xxv. 12. Every individual should search the Scriptures, day by day, for the purpose of learning how to please God, which alone can make us happy; Christ's commandment is " Search the Scriptures. — John v. 39. The disciples searched them daily. — Acts xvii. 11, we learn in them that "God is Love," 1st John iv. 8, and he requires pure love from his creatures. When Christians are united in their mode of worship, they will make love the great principle of their actions, instead of being wrapped up in self and its surroundings. We must bring our minds to see that the whole human race are all children of one great Creator. We will then realize the greatness of the work of creation and redemption, and we will look forward with faith to the time when God will glorify the earth, yes, drive from it evil and its consequences, of sickness, sorrow and death, for could we but give up the little taste of sin that our Father Adam gave us a relish for, this world would become the Paradise it was before the Fall. The first sacred ordinance we are informed of is matrimony ; it is true, it is not necessary to salva- tion, but, if engaged in with the basis of true love and with the blessing of Cod, it is a sacrament, from the abuse of which springs all the misery in the world. Woman was created to be the comforter, companion, friend of man. When two persons approach the altar with true love in their hearts, imploring Cod's blessing on their union, breaking a wine glass and spilling the wine, or using a ring as an outward sign, they perform a sacramental service, and Christ's presence at the marriage feast must have been intend- ed to show that it was a sacred service ; and by his changing the water into wine, he endeavoured to teach them what he afterwards told them that " they twain shall be one flesh." Death may part, but cannot sever the tie^ and though the Devil has induced men to make laws of divorce, no such laws are of any use, for Christ has said " what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. — " Mat. xix. 6. Now it is engaged in lightly, with little knowledge of each other's character, in fact without anything solid for its basis. The female education is not 6 practical ; there is little or no preparation for the solemn service to be engaged in, but the outward adorning of the body. Flirting is the device which the Devil is using to destroy the pure actions of the heart; even little children flirt in this age; the sim- plicity of childhood is destroyed by it ; the habit from practise becomes part of the nature. The married woman must have beaux, one husband is not enough ; she in her youth has been deceived, she in turn becomes a deceiver, and life is one constant scene of acting. The holy and sacred feeling of love which God planted in the heart of man, that mystic bond of union, which enables us to anticipate each other's wishes, to live as it were out of self in each other, becoming day by day purer and holier, guiding each other on the road that leads to the Holy City that St. John saw coming down out of Heaven. — Rev. xxi. 2 — this love, like the cactus that blooms once in a hundred years, is so seldom seen that when it appears it is not appreciated, and dies out for want of culture. It is the object of the evil spirit to make us believe that happiness consists in outward appearances, to possess riches, honor, and power he persuades us to lie and deceive, slowly fettering on the chains which bind us to the grave. Christian women, to break these chains, destroy the works of the Devil, and arrest the angel of Death, is a noble work; I call you to enlist in it ! The English language is the only one that can boast of a word so expressive as the word home ; every home should be a haven of rest, a place of happiness, in which the Christian graces should shine as stars in the firmament. When wives and daughters make it the aim of their lives to make home happy, the angel of peace will descend to the earth, bringing with him happiness and plenty. Then wine, which was intended to make glad the heart of man, will no longer prove a mocker and deceiver, but it will strengthen and refresh as God intended it should. Every action of our lives will be guided by principle, and God's glory will be the chief end of man. The members of each household will then try to do some daily duty for the comfort of its inmates ; home amusements will be encouraged, and presided over by the parents ; and, instead of the constant whirl of excitement which people call pleasure, real happiness will be found in the domestic circle. The majority of mankind will cease to lead a slavish, selfish life in pursuit of gold, for it will appear quite plain that less means are needed to make people truly happy. The mind and body which now engross all our attention will yield a third of their attentions to the souL But ere this great Millenium time arrives women have an arduous work to do. There are, you will say, pure and virtuous women called nuns, who have withdrawn from the world ; granted, but have not each of these nuns left their home duties unper- formed, and could not each nun have done more good in her own home if she had overcome her tempta- tions there than she has done in the convent, for stone walls do not keep men and women from bowing down to Satan's devices. Christ says : " I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." — John xvii. 15. The evil spirit stirs every heart with envy, jealousy and passion, and makes both religious and irreligious people bow before his idol of gold. No matter where the christian is, one or other of his temptations will overcome him unless his soul, guided by the Holy Spirit, is washed in his Saviour's blood and looks to God alone for strength with which to resist all evil influences. The Blessed Virgin, the mother of Jesus, has set us the example of retiring to our homes in time of trouble, for St. John tells us : 8 from the hour of our Saviour's crucifixion, " that disciple took her unto his own home." — John xix. 27. If the Blessed Yirgin and the disciples could return to their home duties after witnessing such a scene as the crucifixion of our Lord, surely that is the place where we should strive to serve and worship God and learn submission to his will. "When Joseph's heart overflows with love for his brother Benjamin, he orders the ruler of the house to " bring these men home, and slay, and make ready." — Genesis xliii, 16. After Sam- uel anoints Saul to be king, he " sent all the people away, every man to his house." — 10th of 1st Sam. 25. Saul also went home to Gibeah. — 26th verse of same. Habakkuk classes " the one who keepeth not at home" with the proud and those who are fond of wine in his 2 chap., v. When Jesus healed the man with the unclean spirit he desired him to "go home to thy friends." — Mark v. 19. Those three beautiful parables in Luke xv. all teach us to rejoice in our homes, first, over any stray sheep which we may help back to the fold ; secondly, over any lost jewel, " which may mean vir- tue," which has been lost and is found, and lastly, over the poor prodigal sinner who returns, after long wandering in the paths of sin, to His Father and his home. There he is to be restored to life. In his home he is to find peace and contentment. See how beauti- fully Joseph provides, remark,not only for his wife and children, but for his father and brethren in the time of famine. Indeed Genesis seems to provide bread for each household, Genesis xlvii. 12 ; Exodus a lamb or meat, xii. 3. "According to the house of their fathers a lamb for an house." Leviticus an atone- ment. The priest is desired in the xvi. chapter to go alone into the tabernacle and make " An atonement for himself and for his househould, and for all the congregation of Israel," IT verse. Then Numbers teaches us in the xviii. chapter to give a tenth part of 9 our earnings to God. If we do this we may enjoy both the fruit of the vine and the products of the earth, for it is the reward of both ye and your households, Deuteronomy informs us, that God will reward us if we keep our households in order and are kind to the stranger, fatherless and widow, xiv. 29. Thus we see that the five Books of Moses are all intended to regu- late and make home happy. St. Paul says, " if any man hunger let him eat at home." — xi. of 1st Corim, 34 verse. In his Epistle to Titus women are desired " to be discreet chaste, keepers at home," ii. 5. St. Luke tells us there was a righteous priest and his wife, of the name of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was one of the daughters of Aaron, walking in all the commandments of the Lord blameless. These pious people were chosen to have a son, who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah, but see, although they led so pure a life they needed a miracle to open their eye of Faith, and the world seems now to require some miracle or sign to make them believe that goodness must pre- vail, which reminds me that Christ has said " "When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth." — Luke 18. 8. Moses says : " know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations," Deuteronomy vii. 9, and he requires us to have a perfect faith in him, Deut. xxxii. 20. " God will hide his face" from " children in whom is no faith." All the men who were chosen of God to do his work were men of faith. After the Patriarchs look at Moses who God said himself " My servant Moses" who is faithful in all mine house." — Numbers xii. 7. God warned Eli, when his sons failed to do his work well, that he would raise up a faithful priest, which was fulfilled in Samuel, he acknowledged God in all his ways, and set up a stone saying, " Hitherto hath tho 10 Lord helped us," 1st Sam. vii. 12, and St. Paul says in Hebrews xi. that time would fail to tell of the mighty works that have been wrought through the great Faith of the Patriarchs, Priests and Prophets, who have lived on the earth." All the people that the Saviour restored to health were possessed of great Faith, the three he raised to life were monu- ments of Faith. See how Jesus loved the little family of Bethany, and why Mary's words " Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died" shew that she believed that Jesus could have saved her brother's life if he had been there ; but she had yet to learn that he could raise to life, and that as God he is every where present, so that he could have caused " that even this man should not have died" but he wished to open their eyes and ours, and to show that in his own good time he will stay the hand of death, and also raise to life with a glorified body those that have left the earth in Faith in him, but to hasten this time we must subdue ourselves and not be conformed to this world. — 12 Eomans 2. We must, like our Saviour, be kind and thoughtful for the feelings of others, ever striving to make those around us happy. Every hour of his life was spent in acts of kindness, not to one particular object or pet subject, but to all and every person that sought his assistance, and just as he raised the widow's son, Lazarus, and Jairus' daughter so will he raise every believer, convert every Jew and unite every christian church, and bring all to a state of perfect holiness here on earth. "When the power of evil, which for six thousand years has bound the world in sin and selfishness, is chained, then what a paradise this earth will be ! "What a glorious time when we will have the privilege of walking in the garden like Adam with our Maker and talking to Jesus, hearing from his own lips the words " GrO thou and preach the kingdom of G-od." — Luke ix. 60, The 11 Bible says plainly that we are to expect the Lord, for we are told to be always ready, none can tell when he will come. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord." — Luke xii. 35. Nearly 1900 years ago the disciples were thus exhorted to wait ; there were then but a few, very few christians, now about one third of the world are nominally christians. When the disciples asked Jesus, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel," 1 Acts 6, he refused to satisfy their idle curiosity, but told them that they should bear witness to his work to all parts of the earth, and, though we are not allowed to know the times or seasons of his coming, still it is right to be always expecting. " Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh." — Mark xiii. 35. Until the harvest we are told the good and bad are to grow together. David says : All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. — Psalm xxii. 27. His rest shall be glorious. — Isaiah xi. 10 ; Micah iv. 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and, 8th verse, and thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion. The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." ii. 12 says, surely I will gather the remnant of Israel with numberless others. One miracle we are distinctly told to look for at that time, in Isaiah xi. 15. The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind, shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smile in the seven streams and make men go over dry shod. This prophecy may mean (remark the writer does not say that it does) but it may mean that the Lord will utterly destroy the sea of wickedness which has spread itself through the earth ; that he will penetrate 12 with his Spirit the most intricate windings of the secret paths of sin, and then smite those streams of selfishness which are drowning the souls of men, and lead us in the paths of holiness and peace, for Christ came that we might have life, yes that we might have it more abundantly. The devil's pride is so great that he has even said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. — Isaiah xiv. 14. For this purpose he persuaded men to build the tower of Babel, whose top was to reach to Heaven. This tower, was no doubt a sort of round church, through which the devil persuaded men that they should gain the mansions of the blessed. But the great Spirit soon dispersed these vain ideas, and has been trying to teach men ever since that by no human stairs but only through faith in Jesus and obedience to his commands will that end be obtained. The time is coming when Satan and his works will be unveiled, then will be asked the question : " Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms," xiv. 16. For some wise purpose he is allowed to indulge in his mad thoughts for a time, and to fill men's minds with the same. See, for exam- ple, how he has persuaded Professor Darwin to assert that man was originally a monkey, man, whose soul is offered the benefits of the sacrifice of a perfect human body with the Divine nature wherein to wash and be clean. An antidote for the poison which the evil Spirit has inserted in our veins, and yet clever men allow intellectual pride to be the ruin of their souls. Surely any trial, no matter how severe, that will teach us to know and feel the power of God and will subdue the pride of body or mind to the saving of the immortal part of our being, should be received thankfully and borne patiently, for the greatest im- provements in science that can be made can only add a little more knowledge and comfort for a few 13 fleeting years, but the victory of good over evil will cause to hear the " Great Yoice saying, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God." — Eev. xxi. 3. The many new devices that the evil Spirit is now using to keep mankind from loving the Great Creator draws our thoughts to the words of St. Paul to Timothy, now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," 1 Tim. iv. 1, and Professor Darwin's theory, that man was origi- nally a monkey, is without doubt, a doctrine of the evil Spirit. It is his object to conceal from us the fact that our souls can never die, and that two places are prepared to receive them. God has warned us that a fire " shall burn into the lowest Hell." — Deut. xxxii. 22. "Hell and destruction are never full." — Prov. xxvii. 20. "Hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure." — Isaiah v. 14. And he has told us that " The fining pot is for silver and the fur- nace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts." — Prov. xvii. 3. Thus it is plain our own actions must deter- mine the future state of the soul. We are free to choose this day whom we will serve. — Joshua xxiv. 15. In all great battles the soldiers fight for the cause they have espoused, so in this great war we fight either against the temptation of the evil Spirit and overcome by the help of the sword of the Spirit, and the armour of Faith, or we yield to the arts of the tempter and sink gradually and imperceptibly into his power when we find the oil of God's lamp gone out and our souls like a benighted traveller on a dark night who has lost his way seeking for the road from which we should never have strayed, for " the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the 14 perfect day." — Prov. iv. 18, and it is only by walking in this path that we can become like the being Adam was before he sinned. " At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images." — Isaiah xvii. 7, 8. And Ezekiel, in his 36th chap., sees this desolate earth once more looking "like the garden of Eden." In those days men will realize that there are four temples, not four religions, for the latter four will entwine themselves around the parent vine, and the birds of the air will lodge in the branches. 1st. All will then know Christ as the true temple. 2nd. Every believer as a living temple. 3rd. The gospel church as the mystical temple.— Eph .ii. 21. 4th. Heaven the everlasting temple. All will see the necessity for public and private prayer, both of which our Lord taught by example and precept. To public prayer he alluded when he said, " If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." — Matt, xviii. 19. These words, an eminent Divine calls the " charters of public worship. In these we seem to approach God as a society incorporated by the royal charter of his Son, uniting in prayer for the same wants and petitions." The beautiful liturgy of the Episcopal Church is suitable to the wants of all mankind, and it has the advantage of a perfect agreement between minister and people. There are times, no doubt, when extem- pore prayer is a benefit, but in the House of God minister and people are not agreed, unless both are uttering the same words at the same time. No one oan know what the minister is goiiig to say before 15 he utters it. In the Romish mass the priest offers the mass for the people and prays for them in an unknown tongue, so they are not agreed. It thus follows that, if we fall short in practise, we have the greater cause for humiliation because the privilege both of the doctrine and discipline of prayer in which priest and people are both agreed is what Christ commands. But it is not sufficient that priest and people utter the same words at the same time ; the hearts of both must be lifted with the words, to the throne of God ; we must try to feel a holy reverence in His temple for the great God who condescends to allow us to worship in a house made with hands his great and glorious majesty. Our first aim should be to realize that God is everywhere, in earth, and sky, and sea, and though not now visibly present in the temple, as he appeared in the Shekinah to the Jews, still he clothed himself with a perfect human body and dwelt among men, to show us that from child- hood to manhood we may overcome evil with good, and, though he has withdrawn his human body from the earth, His Holy Spirit communes with our spirit in the bread and wine at his own table, exactly in the same way as it did in that glorious Sight in which he spoke to man from off the mercy seat, " Take eat this is my Body" "This is my blood of the New Testament. — " Mark xiv. 22, 24. Eemark that Christ does not say that he changes the bread and wine into his body and blood, but that he inhabits it. His Spirit is to be found in it by the use of a perfect faith, and the soul that has had the spirit of goodness planted in it through the waters -of baptism, has renewed and strenghtened these vows at the hands of a bishop in confirmation, and is constantly fed, at regular and stated periods, with the Holy Fire in the bread and wine, will, through this perfect faith, daily increase in holiness and in the knowledge of the Lord. 16 Ezra says, that the Tirshatha " said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. — Ezra, ii. 63. This was something attached to the breast plate by which the mind of God was made known to the high priest when enquired of them in cases of difficulty. Now Christ was that priest, he both knew and did the will of God ; therefore the time has come for us to eat of holy things as allowed by the Tirshatha. Spiritual life requires spiritual food to sustain it. All creeds and all nations can agree to supply their bodily wants ; at the same market ali feed and dress their bodies with the richest and best, at regular and stated intervals ; but alas ! how divided how careless, how unsettled, are the arrangements for the nourishment of the soul — that soul which is always progressing either in good or evil ! It may be that it has three progressive states, finding per- fection only when found worthy to become an angel in the third heaven. The first state of trial, the present, which is passing rapidly away. The second the place to which our Lord descended when his Holy Spirit left his perfect body, which groaned under the separation, for it exclaimed, " My God my God why hast thou forsaken me. — Mat. xxvii. 46. It is the body that speaks,the soul and spirit travel to that unknown land but are speechless, Christ went then to the place where our spirits go when they leave the body. It cannot be that they there enjoy the presence of God ; for after Christ rose from the grave he told Mary not to touch him for he had not yet ascended to his Father, then he shewed himself " alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." — Acts, i. 3 ; and this kingdom will be the third and last place of trial, or perhaps preparation would be a better word, for the glory 17 which awaits us. Isaiah says, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. — " Isaiah lxiv. 4. The three first chapters in the Bible shew what misery ^dam brought on the human race by listening to the suggestions of the Evil Spirit. The three last chap- ters in the Bible show what happiness he will regain when he follows the guidance of the Good Spirit. The Evil Spirit does not give us even a few years of perfect happiness in return for all our service. The influence of the Good Spirit causes the Soul to do good and great works which are always like the even and regular ebbings of the tide returning to the mind with pleasing and happy thoughts, bringing to it peace and contentment, which speaks of something lasting, something great to be obtained from a loving and heavenly Father. Earthly parents spoil their children by over-indulgence, they fail in not teaching them that this earth is yet a divided kingdom, and that earthly desires are not always to be granted, the consequences are that the pleasing of the body is the ruling passion. Thus the body becomes unaccustom- ed to any act of self denial and unprepared to deny itself any fancied pleasure. Those who do sell their souls for the gratification of any evil passion have but little enjoyment. Thus the drunkard finds plea- sure in drinking, but how does he feel when he is sober. The miser finds pleasure in his gold, how does he feel when he loses it or leaves it. The sharper finds pleasure in cheating you, if he gains but a few dollars by the act, how does he feel when he thinks of the account of his stewardship which he must one day give. The smuggler is delighted if by conceal- ing some lace and gloves on his person he can deceive the officer, by so doing he may deceive them, but does he thus think to deceive his God, alas, no ! — c 18 "x\ll things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."- Heb. iv. 13. But good- ness though slandered, abused, and despised sees in the distance the city that " had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof." — Kev. xxi. 23, and feels the cross light that leads him to the gates, those gates which Christ will open to those that approach the Father through him, for he has said " I am the way, the truth and the life. The wicked do not enjoy the company of the good, even in the present state of the world, how can they hope to enjoy a city "that there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." — Rev. xxi. 27. Christians are now like a house divided against itself, our Lord warned us that such a house cannot stand. If the great struggle of good and evil is at hand, the Devil is preparing his spirits to "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." — Eev. xvi. 14. And he gathered them to that place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. None can tell where this place is or when this battle will be fought, but we are told in the Bible that the result of it is to be the complete overthrow of the power of the evil Spirit ; he and all his works are to be destroyed and withdrawn from this beautiful earth. "With this end so clearly before us it especially behoves us to try and come to some united belief on the subject of sacramental rites and ordinances. Some very pious and clever persons believe that there are seven sacraments, some say there are five, some allow there may be three, our church teaches two only as gener- ally necessary to salvation. The word sacrament is not to be found in the Bible, but our souls must require 19 food as well as our bodies to sustain them, and Christ, both by precept and example, enforced the need of certain means which we must use if we wish to be washed in his blood. Baptism and Christ's own sup- per are as it were the principal of these, but God him- self instituted Matrimony, it must, therefore be a sacrament. Confimation, it is true, was not actually commanded by Christ, but then it was the custom in the early church, and is as it were a part of Baptism and so must partake of its nature. It says in Acts viii. 16, 17, " Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost." Every ordi- nance by which the soul receives spiritual food or life from the Holy Spirit of God must be sacramental, for a sacrament is really spiritual food, for they are the channels through which our spiritual life must flow, and when we partake of them in God's own way Christ will give us of the living water which the poor woman of Samaria had within her reach but failed to acquire. At present we are fulfilling faithfully the picture Christ described " five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three." Luke xii. 52. All, whether Indians, Turks or Hot- tentots, have immortal souls, but observe the effect of Baptism on the soul. Even those who have planted but not watered that seed with the other sacraments are more civilized, they have at least made one step in the right road. The sun, moon and stars all give us light, none can tell exactly which of these produces it because it is a thing that comes from God himself. We see plainly that as the body is constituted it needs the light of all these as also the sky to contain them, and the air to convey the light to us ; the loss of any one of them would seriously affect us. Thus also is the light of the soul transmitted to us. The sun and moon, like Baptism and the Lord's supper, 20 are absolutely necessary. The stars attending on the moon, like Confirmation following Baptism. The sky represents Matrimony, the air ordination, for it is through the priesthood that the sacraments are administered to us. This seems to prove plainly what I stated at the beginning, that light and goodness come from the good Spirit, darkness and wickedness from the evil Spirit, and as all God's works are regular and united in their movements, so if we wish to please him and to have him to reign over us we must become one on these doctrinal points and " worship the father in spirit and in truth." — John iv. 23. One can hardly realize any one accepting the ofiice of a priest without feeling that the ordinance which fits him for that ofiice is a sacrament requiring both study and close communion with God such as Moses and Aaron enjoyed. It was Christ himself who first appeared as a priest under the name of Melchizadec, then God called Aaron to be a prophet, Ex. vii. 1, or as he is afterwards called a priest; his successors continued in ofiice till our Saviour came, they perhaps do still in the Jewish church. Then came our Saviour in human form, and though not visible he is still our great High Priest ; but his chosen twelve apostles and seventy disciples left their successors who from generation to generation have filled, and do still fill the priestly ofiice inthe christian church. " The gates of hell have not prevailed against" the three churches which St. Peter planted and the branches which have sprung from them. The commission that Christ gave them was, "Go ye unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," Mark xvi. 15, and St. Matthew gives it, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations,baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Here their work is clearly set down to teach and pre. ch and baptize, had Christ given them power to forgive sins it would have been mentioned here. It 21 is true that St. John in his 20th chapter says that Christ, after bestowing on the apostles the Holy Ghost, said, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained." But had this been intended to give them some extraordinary power of forgiving sins he would surely have explained it also to Thomas, for he was not with them, and did not believe that Christ had risen; but Jesus convinced him of his want of faith by shewing him the print of the nails and the hole in his side, and Thomas exclaimed at once " my Lord and my God," making Thomas, by his public confession, an example of what Christ required, viz., that we should, in the words of a public confession such as is found in our prayer book, confess our sins before God, and then the priest has the power to give a general absolution such as the one that follows it. But the consequence of sin is death. That, no priest has the power to destroy. The Jews believed that none could forgive sins but God alone. — Mark ii. 7. Christ tried to teach them that he was divine and had the power to drive away sin from the earth. As soon as he desired the man sick of the palsy to rise, " He arose, took the bed and went forth before them all." — Mark ii. 12. And as soon as he speaks the word the christian church which is now shaking with the palsy will unite and encircle the whole earth. The body of Christ was made " perfect -through suffering." — Heb. ii. 10. Christians and Christianity are undergoing a trial of affliction to fit them for greater happiness than man has ever known. Every thing worldly ends in death but the hope of the christian is life, and the triumph of Christianity will be the destruction of Death. The saints in heaven are said to have come through much tribulation. — Bev. vii. 14. They have encountered the evil Spirit and conquered him. What they have done with the 22 help of God's Holy Spirit we can do. But we never will conquer death till we destroy our idol and its worship. Idolatry never nourished more among the Jews than it does now among christians. Go to our christian meetings, what is the chief topic of conver- sation ? It is money. A savage suddenly transported from his wilds to one of our assemblies with the power of understanding our language, would suppose that money, not God's glory, was the chief end of man. The evil Spirit now holds such sway over the hearts of men that he makes both ministers and people believe that with money they can buy their soul's salvation. Congregations say, we pay the money, we shall have for our minister the one we choose. These monied men that do him worship say this minister must honor us, and in general they do. In their eagerness to obtain the cursed thing, all seem to forget that God has promised to give what is needful to those that trust in him, and he will both provide the individual and the church that labors and trusts all its wants to him. They need have no fears while they do their duty and what their conscience tells them is right. God sometimes tries christians sorely, demands all and every thing that we value to see of what our faith is made, whether we really believe that he has the power which can make all things work together for our good or whether our faith is a dead faith, trusting only in human aids and human gifts. We are free agents in the choice of good or evil, and though the banner that waves around us sometimes conceals even from ourselves the side on which we are fighting, yet the smallest action of our lives serves some great and allwise purpose, and is gradually preparing us either for an angel of light or of darkness. Christ has taught us the necessity of love and charity between all christians, ° By this shall all men know that ye are 23 my disciples. If ye have love one to another." — John xiii. 35. " One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren," Matthew xxiii. 8, and his prayer that they all may be one, John xvii. 21, will yet, I believe, restore sweet and holy communion between all the christian churches. It is certain that such love did oxist in the early ages of the Church before earthly ambition and unchristian feelings were planted by the evil Spirit. We read that Peter was accompanied by six brethren when he went to Cornelius, Acts xi. 12, and when Paul departed from Ephesus to go to Macedonia we are told that he had with him, " Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessa- lonians Aristarchus and Secundus; and Graius of Derbe, and Timotheus ; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. — Acts xx. 4. In the three last verses of this chapter we read that they prayed together and wept very sore at parting from Paul, for they felt that they should see his face no more. Then in the apostles' time christians admitted to their communion those who came from other countries, they contributed to the relief of distressed believers in all parts, and they exchanged letters and advice. " A bishop in those days, quoted from early history, could give any mem- ber of his church a letter which when presented would admit him into all the privileges of christian fellowship. We have in the epistle of St. Clement, Bishop of Borne and the Roman church, addressed to the Church of Corinth before the end of the first cen- tury on occasion of a schism in the latter church, an instance of fraternal intercourse and solicitude. And in the following centuries, the epistle of Dyonisius, Bishop of Corinth, to many churches in Pontus, Crete, and that of the Council of Antioch to all the churches are further examples of the same practice. We learn that even in the second century, the Church of Borne was remarkable for the extent of its charities to the 24 distressed and persecuted christians in the East, and Dyonisius of Alexandria, in the following century, attests that the same truly christian conduct was still in full exercise, and its benefits were felt even in the remote regions of Arabia." 'Tis true that even in St. Paul's time the Church of Corinth was full of par- ties and divisions, for even Paul and Barnabas had a sharp contention and separated. — Acts xv. 39. Though they may have had different opinions on some sub- jects they felt one common bond of interest in their christian work. St. Paul exhorted them to remember that Christ was not divided, and St. Jude says, those "who separate themselves are sensual, having not the Spirit." — If we divide man's sojourn on earth into periods, the first including the time which elapsed from the creation to the deluge, we find that men grew gradually worse and worse till God swept him off the earth by a flood and then repeopled the earth again through Noah and his three sons, four men whose descendants soon forgot the great display of power which the Almighty had shown by cover- ing the earth with water, and filled with pride con- ceived the idea of building the church or tower of Babel. Then God, we are told, came down, and, by confounding their language, scattered them over the whole earth. Then follows the call of Abraham whose descendants God made his peculiar care. God watched over them, guarded them, guided them, and fed them directly from heavon, and yet they failed to worship him as he wished to be worshipped. Then Christ came on earth as a Saviour, which is the fourth period. " He came unto his own and his own received him not." — John i. 11. The Jews were his own chosen ones, but they were too proud to believe that God could condescend to come on earth in the humble manner in which Christ came ; and now if we are on the eve of a fifth period let us not, like our fore- 25 fathers, sink our ship on the rock of pride, but, uniting in christian love and charity, may we sail out into the beautiful clear blue waters, and with strong faith at the helm we will yet lay hold on the Tree of Life. But at present we are all suffering from this disease. The Jew cannot yet see that the world has been redeemed. Christians do not believe that God will soon glorify it. When the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles " they were all with one accord in one place." — Acts ii. 1. So that they, at least, then must have been united. Has not the Almighty yet shown us enough of his power ? Why is it we cannot see that he is determined that we shall learn to know him through the eye of faith, such faith as will teach us to feel that he can make man a perfect being, that he can eject the poison of evil from his veins, and drive sin irom this beautiful earth. In 1851, when Prince Albert, your beloved earthly parent, drew together all the nations of the earth for a display of industry, did not man show the greatness of his intellect and the wonderful power of the mind that God has given him ; what would not that mind produce when united in the great Christian cause ? Those whose privilege it was to feast their senses on the beautiful structure, designated the Crystal Palace of Concord, in which the brotherhood of nations was celebrated — who gazed on the various works of art which filled up and decorated that earthly temple and greeted with acclamations of joy our beloved Queen and her illustrious consort, for planning and labouring to engage the intelligence and mechanical genius of all nations — should consider what a far greater work is waiting one great master-mind, the united efforts of body and soul, to prepare the world for the reign of Christ upon earth. The skilful manner in which the Germans conducted their war with France prove plainly that, if such a nation 26 could be induced to unite in promoting our great eternal interests, and make a great effort for the union of the Christian churches, the millennium would begin to dawn on the earth, — that time when Christ " shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe. — " 2nd Thes. i. 10. Chris- tians are now indeed a stumbling block through their divisions. St. Paul's warning has been unheeded " Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak." — 1st Cor. viii. 9. Christ, as prophesied by Isaiah, is the stumbling stone, that they, the Jews, the builders, have rejected,— " And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." — Isa. viii. 14; and pause and consider if our divisions are a stumbling block to the Jews. God has threatened to consume the stumbling blocks with the wicked. — Zeph. i. 3, and in in the 14th verse it says : " The great day of the Lord is near and hasteth greatly." They are, there- fore, to be destroyed before the reign of Christ ; and the 18th verse says, " neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath ! St. John was permitted to see in a vision the marriage of the Lamb, the encircling of the Christian Church with a marriage ring. — Rev. xix. T. We are told that Christ will then find five wise virgins, and five foolish ones without oil in their lamps. May the Christian Church soon begin to trim her lamps for he comes and is near. " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection j on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." It thus seems quite plain that we are to look forward to two resurrec- tions, one before the thousand years and one after ; those who have the privilege of coming back to this 27 earth with a glorified body will meet the Lord in the air at the judgment day, for St. Paul says that " the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. — 1st Thes. iv. 16. Then the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." — Rev. xi. 15. Councils and Synods have been the means of doing much harm to the Christian Church. They have raised up among ministers feelings of pride and passion, making them wish for high-sounding names and high positions, which has taken from them much of that respect which the office requires, and given the laity a power which they never should have had in God's house. ON SYNODS. It gives me pain, indeed, to see Synods making useless laws ; They seem to meet to disagree, Quibbling about little flaws. Are not the rules God Moses gave, And which Christ alone did teach, Enough both priests and all to save ? Hear and heed them I beseech. Christ told us other laws were vain, All traditions He forbid ; But them he said we must maintain And then walk as Moses did. Mankind lives but to break these laws Generations come and go, Feeding Death's ever open jaws — Satan walking to and fro. 28 These Canons that our Synods make Do not check him in the least ; He smiles as each new law is cast ; On men's doctrines he does feast. God should be a Bishop's only adviser, and from him he will receive all that is necessary to advance him and his flock in the paths of holiness, for Christ has said "Lo, I am with you always." Let Bishops, Priests and Deacons meet together at times for the breaking of bread with prayer and praise, and their hearts will be- come more and more fitted for the reign of Christ. It is possible that the seventh thousand year of the world may be the Sabbath of the Lord, the rest for the righteous before they are caught up in the clouds to be ever with the Lord, for though God sees us and knows us, each and all, we will need some time to prepare us to worship God in his heavenly temple. The Lord informed Moses, Ex. xix. 6, that this people should " Be unto him a kingdom of priests and an holy nation." Daniel says, " that the saints of the Most High shall possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This seems to infer that this world was intended to be the kingdom of the righteous, yes, and they will yet obtain possession of it. Dear Christian Princess, I have addressed you in this letter without the etiquette which is your due, because I feel that in such a spiritual work there is no need of ceremony. I have drawn your attention in this letter to the great points of contention among Christians ; but the key note on which all the har- mony depends is the three-fold essence of our great Creator, which is truly a mystery, but still a right knowledge of it is necessary to our salvation. Plato, who lived 360 years before the Christian era, taught his disciples that there were three persons in the Godhead, the Supreme Good, the mind and the soul. 29 I have no doubt that the early Christians, who saw Christ's divinity in his actions, had no contentions on this subject, but were all united in its views, for this was the principal feature that distinguished them from the Jews of that time. The Greek Church, whose link is not yet broken, appears to have pre- served this doctrine in its purest state, the Three all equal and co-eternal. Moses tells us we are made after God's own image, and we are quite conscious of having a body, mind, and soul, or spirit, for we feel within us the power of thought, and also a sort of electric communion with the Great Being who directs all our ways. You will see that I have, in the other parts of the book, tried to make this, and all the other points on which Christians contend, as plain as verse can make them, and if through God's bless- ing you, and the German people, can be induced to take an interest in the work, I may hope that it will sow the seed of Christian unity whose first blossom will be the conversion of the Jewish people to the acknowledgment of Christ as the Messiah, who then will return as King of kings and Lord of lords ; when they will once more enjoy that sweet inter- course with Jehovah which it was the privilege of the Fathers to entertain. " And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day, and the shining of a naming fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be a defence, and there shall be a Taber- nacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge." That you may be one of those of whom St. John writes as follows is the sincere wish of the writer of this letter. Seven promises our Lord has made To those who overcome, And ev'ry word that He has said Most surely will be done. The tree that from man's sight was hid, When he first disobey'd, Will in our gardens grow amid The fruit that man betray'd. The second death no pow'r shall have On these His favor'd ones, Their bodies glorified shall live, And wear the crown they've won. With hidden manna God will feed, A white stone will obtain, This stone, his passport, none shall read, But him who it does name. Nations shall be ruled by him, Who, faithful to the end, Controls and keeps himself from sin, When Satan does contend. He shall be cloth'd in raiment white, His sins all wash'd away, His new name Christ will bring to light And glorify his clay. A pillar in God's temple seen, No more to be displac'd, Three glorious names will on Him gleam, When sin is all effac'd. A throne is for such saints prepar'd With Christ on earth to reign, A palace free from pain or care, Then love all hearts will chain. 31 OUR FIRST PARENTS. Adam and Eve a lesson teach, To which attention I beseech ; Reflect mankind, this happy pair Were placed in Eden free of care. The earth all drest in beauteous green Blooming fruits around are seen ; To work and keep, to taste and eat, To be of living things the chief. One little thing his God forbid — The reason was from Adam hid — God gave him all that he did need, And yet he stole the little seed. Week after week man steals the rest God has chosen man's faith to test ; Sun, moon and stars their God obey Move on and on from day to day. But man spurns all his Maker's love, And welcomes not the Heavenly Dove. What more could man or woman want Than God to tie the marriage knot ? Adam and Eve did not this prize, But thought to be like God's more wise ; They tasted of the hidden fruit, Which made them blind and deaf and mute. If Eve had trusted in her God, And bid the serpent fear nis rod, Made Adam noble, wise and great, How happy then the marriage state. God's glory all around to cheer, What need would they have had to fear, Their bodies ne'er have turned to dust Nor out of Paradise been thrust. 32 Thunder and lightning never heard, But angels singing like the birds, Clouds ne'er have floated o'er the sky Nor tears bedew'd man's lovely eye. The earth would never then have quak'd, Nor fire beneath have made her shake, Man's body never known a pain, Nor ever hid from G-od with shame. Our infant days without a tear, Nor ever cradled in a bier, Childhood's gay hopes, and happy song Have cheer'd us all our lives along. Our weekly rest and daily toil Have girded man with virtue's coil, He selfish then would not have been Every Eve have been a queen. Each to the other would have brought Holy love and heavenly thought, God's glory been their chief delight And with him walked by day and night. Our spirits, daily fed with grace, Would ne'er have sought another place, No souls to Satan have been bound To follow him for ever round. But all our bodies, spirits, souls Must pray the angel with live coals Our lips to touch, our mouths to cleanse, Ere Jesus to this earth descends. Now women, maidens see how Eve Herself and Adam did deceive ! 'Tis time her children should awake Some new and great endeavors make. 83 To banish death from this our land For we are now but bags of sand j Time wearing all and each away, Our life is but a little day. United all in one strong band, Evil to crush on every hand ; Never to flirt, deceive nor lie, Then Death will take his wings and fly. A little band I'll surely find Who to God's rules themselves will bind, Without regard to church and state, Or thinking what's to be their fate ; Will trust to God in each event, And do each duty as its sent, Each in the home where God has placed, No matter how those duties taste ; The Sabbath in his temple spend To pray him every blessing send. The Tree of Life God then will give And we eternally will live. Two Spirits now our bodies hold, For to evil we have been sold ; But Christ has bought us for his own, Wash'd in his blood we shall be known. When this kingdom Christ comes to claim Satan himself to bind and chain, Man will not then good people shun, — They will his kings and priests become. Hasten Oh Lord ! this blessed time, Send down some great some wondrous sign, To cause thy people to unite And worship thee with all their might ! D 34 THE SECOND EVE. The Blessed Virgin now behold, Her pictures always hung in gold, Some do adore, some worship, them, And artists make her their great gem. But Oh ! how was it when on earth Ere she to Jesus did give birth ? What shame and sorrow, sadness, woe, Was her portion here below. An angel had from heaven to come To tell her husband fear to shun ; The power of the Holy One A perfect human body won. No palace then was open'd wide Where she her lovely babe could hide, But in a manger he was laid — A stable was her only shade. 'Tis plain she but a woman was, Endow'd with wisdom for the cause ; Eve's purest daughter good and chaste Of all earth's trials here did taste. She knew her Son was all divine, She saw in him two natures shine j All round her she bid him obey — Be sure you do what he does say. She learnt to love him and to fear May we like her his words revere She never gave us any sign, To make us think She was divine. 35 Eve as a Spirit God did see And then in fire appeared he Surely God could as Jesus come His work on earth himself have done. THE SABBATH EYE. How sweet and peaceful is the rest Of the Christian's Sabbath eve, Sweet foretaste of the holiness Which will us soon from sin relieve. Our pleasures then not mixed with pain, All our sorrows turn'd to joy ; Christians, then, in more than name, Our souls in virtue will employ. No thistles then will grow apace, No thorns to pierce one's very heart \ The earth will then begin to taste The sweetness plann'd in God's great chart. Truth then will shine in every place, Faith will be our guiding star ; God's glory glowing in each face, And nothing to annoy or jar. Beauty, then, the eye will behold, And in virtue all will be drest, Bright gems and pearls and wealth untold, Will be shining on each breast. Our eyes will never lose their sight, No deafness will our ears offend, Our hair be glossy, teeth be white Our youthful days will never end. 36 Then all will learn that " God is love," His wisdom all will then perceive, The patience of the Holy Dove, And mercy that could Christ receive. As an atonement for man's sin, The fallen angels to replace, That when man heav'n enters in, He may not like them lose his place. How great the God that shows such love To wilful, wicked, sinful men, Who always watches from above, And bids the angel take a pen. And each and ev'ry holy act, Down in the Book of Life he writes, And promises to read these facts, As soon as Satan takes his flight, With all those who have worship'd him, To the region now call'd hell, There they will live with him in sin, In torment there for ever dwell. No Sabbath rest for such as these, They will in that time be withdrawn, But to return when Christ shall please, To call them on the judgment morn. Come then, beware, at once prepare A rest is waiting for the blest, A Sabbath eve of virtues rare, With peace and love will all be drest. 37 JEWISH ALTAR. On the sanctuary where Jehovah dwelt The guardian cherubims spread their wings, 'Mid golden flowers, trees and fruit man felt, He might have heard the very angels sing. When first with God's glory the altar shone, How wonderful man did not then obey, And seek at once for his sins to atone, Through the great High Priest in God's chosen way. But nothing so strong as man's stubborn will, With evil he delights to be guided, It pleases him best to do what is ill, And never yet in God has confided. Aaron, the priest, made an idol of gold, This image made Moses' anger wax hot, The tables of stone he dropt from his hold, Provok'd, his God's commands he forgot. To man at first God spake them from above, Then wrote them with his finger on the stone, But, ever good, call'd Moses, and in love He bid him write those words with him alone. To keep these rules quite pure God gave some laws, A schoolmaster, to draw us near to Christ When man these rules does practise, then the jaws Of death will close in this our paradise. Christ kept these laws from childhood to the grave ; He led a life obedient and kind ; No longer let the devil make us slaves, And with his sins our souls and bodies bind. 38 To make us his in misery and woe, To cheat us of our heritage and right, To make us serve him here, and then below, He hides from us God's glories pure and bright. O ! let us then at once destroy his chains, With patience wear the cross our father sends ; With wisdom and with love it was ordained, To fit us all for joys that have no end. For ear hath never heard nor eye hath seen, The joy for those that taste the Tree of Life, That city which St. John just had a gleam, This kingdom where God's glory is the light. A POEM OK" THE THBEE-FOLD ESSENCE OF GOD A The Ark. C The Candlestick. Vt The Shekinah. N The Altar of Incense. T The Tabernacle. THE CREATOR. The Mighty One and Great I AM, The whole universe can span ; He moves upon the vasty deep — All the orbs in order keep. God did Himself to mankind give This great world in which we live, With all its creatures, fruits, and trees, All on earth, in sky, and seas. These, when God did for man provide, With a woman by his side, Were perfect, good, and blooming bright, A grand and glorious sight. With this Great Being they did walk, And God then to them did talk, They knew not what it was to fear, When they His commands did hear. His Providence still guards and guides, Watches over man and child, Though sin now hides Him from our sight, All do feel His power and might. Fresh air surrounds us night and day, Sun and moon, with constant ray, Causing the earth to reproduce Food and fruits for mankind's use. Trees with leaves of various hue, Drops of rain and pearly dew, The ebbing tide and gentle flow, Hoary frost, and pure white snow. The lightning which obeys His word, Peals of thunder often heard, The earth itself when it does quake, Now with terror makes men shake. The rapids with majestic roar, Proud St. Lawrence, at our shore, Whose waters join the river near, Never mix, though through we steer. Like good and evil in the world, Both these banners are unfurl'd, If men the former wish to be, They must from the latter flee. All that the universe contains Proves that God Almighty reigns, But above these, the link, the chain, To make Holy once again. Man, who in His own image made, God, his Maker, disobey'd, Is so merciful, just and wise, That we His commands should prize. Unseen His Spirit dwells within, Those who struggle against sin, The everlasting arm sustains, When Christ's blood runs through the veins. O ! What a great and wondrous plan, To restore lost fallen man, Love, mercy, justice, in it shine, Flowing down through Christ the vine. OUR REDEMPTION. When Hagar fled from Abram's house, To the wilderness she stray 'd, Then, first, was heard the angel's voice, He pitied her and sav'd. He gave her water from the well, And rais'd her thoughts on high, The trials all which her befel Form'd a new and sacred tie. When Abraham put forth his hand, With the knife his son to slay, Then next appear'd in this fair land, The Angel Man, Christ our stay. To him he spake the cheering words, " In thy seed shall all be bless'd," Behold the ram caught by his horns, This sacrifice was the test. Of thy obedience, faith and love, Thou fearest God, that now I know, His voice then told him from above, This faith will a good seed sow; Giving the treasures of the heart, Yielding up the dearest thing, Will give our enemy a start, And save us many a sting. In crosslike form on Joseph's lads, See Jacob's hands are stretched out, Imploring from the one who had Redeemed, blessings without count. When Israel their feast did hold, In Gilgal, near Jericho, Joshua did himself behold This Angel as he did go. Then on his face he quickly fell And worshipp'd him as his Lord ; Holy the place he did him tell : Joshua obey'd His word. To Manoah's wife this Angel came, Very terrible his mien, Did wondrous things, and in the flame, He ascended from the scene. When David fell in Satan's snare, And disobey'd his God, His eyes beheld this Angel there, Staying the Avenging Rod. He gently to Elijah spake, When he found him sad and lone ; The mountains rent, the earth did shake, But he heard that soft sweet tone. Thus we see in the days of old, The Angel of His presence Was the Guardian of His fold, And love His very essence. Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage, Cast three Jews into the flames, Good men, who were so very sage, Nothing could their honor stain. This King a golden image made, To which all were bid to bow. These worshipp'd God alone, they said ; That they loudly would avow. The King drew near this furnace hot, Unhurt these three men he sees ; But with them is the Son of God, Who from death and fire frees. Not a hair of their head was sing'd, Their clothes did not smell of fire ; On them was not the slightest tinge Of harm from this King's ire. Thus will it be on earth with man, When his ways are all upright ; The Angel who was Christ the Lamb, Will show his power and might. Darius issued in his realm, What he thought a firm decree, That none for thirty days should own Any God or King save he. For if they did, they should be cast At once into a lion's den. When this statute royal was pass'd, The King signed it with his pen. Daniel, who feared God alone, Went into his house, and prayed Three times a day, as he was prone, Before the decree was made. In the morn, the King rose in haste, And went to the den to see If this man, so wise and chaste, Could really living be. The mouths of the lions were shut, The Angel of God was there ; So Daniel was taken up ; His accusers in despair Were cast with their children and wives To the lions, who devour'd. No Angel came to save their lives, At once they felt their power. Thus is it now, and so will be, With all those who Christ disown, Evil from earth can never flee, Till this Angel Christ alone Can make the Jewish people bend, And in Him Messiah see ; To Him the Branch they must attend, And fall low upon the knee. Then shall all his neighbour call, Under the fig tree and vine ; Man and earth as before the Fall, Will labour and love entwine. Redemption's work, so long begun, Christ finished on the Cross ; None but God's dear and only Son Could have paid the price it cost But it is paid ; the work is done, And Faith is the balance sheet ; Christ's blood our Passover has won, For us grace and mercy meet. A king and prophets all foretold The events which Christ fulfilled ; Of David's line we him behold, And with lamb-like meekness filled. His Mother was a Virgin fair, In Bethlehem He was born; Of humble birth, with virtues rare, Then the star of Jacob shone. From Herod He was forc'd to hide, For this star brought jealous fears ; In Galilee he did reside, Till an angel voice he hears. Sorrow, trial and temptation, Assail'd Him each day and hour ; In every situation, He show'd almighty power. When oppress'd and afflicted, His mouth he opened not ; Of no sin was He convicted, For His vesture they cast lots. With the wicked He met His death, In the rich man's tomb was laid ; And is not this what Scripture saith ? For a ransom should be paid. 10 But now behold the victory : Death has no power to keep, We learn from Jesus' history, That He rose as from a sleep. With body changed and glorified, His Disciples heard Him talk ; In Him, man's nature deified, Again on this earth did walk. When Redemption's work was done, A cloud hid Him from our sight ; But when the time is fully come, Christ's glory will be light. O, may a blessing now descend On this little work of love ; May each Christian to it lend The patience of the Dove. Soon may Christians of all creeds Unite their Faith together, Planting the Truth without the weeds, Living in Love for ever. Then Death, the dreadful curse of ski, Will not wear our flesh away ; The power of the Serpent's sting, Christ, our antidote, will stay. THE HOLY SPIRIT. Behold ! this earth all darkness reigns, God's spirit moves and all is light : It open'd out earth's richest veins, And show'd our Maker's power and might. 11 His word, with an electric charm, Pierc'd through the gloom and brought forth light Encircles earth and guards from harm, Gave birth to Adam and his wife. All happy in a garden, they, With God's spirit, good and true, Roam'd about from day to day, And nothing dark nor evil knew, Till Eve the Serpent's voice beguil'd, To taste the tree that God forbid ; This sin brought death to man and child, And the Good Spirit from us hid. Sin spread itself, till once again The earth was altogether dark ; For forty days a constant rain Drown'd all but those within the Ark. For ten long months and forty days, Light never shed on earth a beam Of its life-giving growth and rays, For water cover'd every seam. Then once again, for mankind's sake, The Spirit caus'd the earth to yield ; To Noah in the Ark God spake, And fruitful soon was man and field. God then a covenant made with man, The token of it is a bow, Which always does the heavens span ; Lights, varied colors in a row. 12 Thus when the earth baptised had been, A sacramental sign God gave, That light from earth He would not screen, And man from evil He would save. Then as a Priest the Spirit came ; Bread and wine, our spiritual food, With blessing He to Abram gave, And told him that he always should Possessor be of Heaven and earth ; Now beasts, and -birds, and fishes all, Assist Him in His joy and mirth, And are obedient to His call. In a vision Abram did With this Spirit again commune ; Five beasts and birds he now him bid Prepare, — holy fire did consume. Five sacramental types behold, Which it appears our God requires ; Encircle these within the fold, And earth will blaze with holy fire. When this good man was ninety-nine, To him this Spirit once more spake, A covenant with thee for all time, And to thy seed with thee I make. Distinct from all or any race, His seed their children circumcise. The Angel Christ, who did displace This token, with His blood despise. 13 Let all baptize when eight days old, With Abram's faith let it be done, His name he chang'd when he was told, Thus Jews may Christ like yet become. The Spirit once again appear'd To Abraham, when in his tent, And, when he look'd, three men stood near ; To these his body low he bent. He seems to speak alone to one, But food prepares for all the three ; Perceive he stood till they were done, And Sarah hears, but does not see. His faith is strong, but hers is weak ; Now comes the promise of a son ; She laughs, but Abram always meek, Trusts, and believes all will be done. The three move on, the Spirit stays, It often lingers with the pure ; When true and just are all our ways, His presence ever we'll secure. The Spirit then made known to him, Because he rul'd his household well, That Sodom and Gomorrah's sins, Sure destruction soon would tell. Six times he to the Lord did plead, " The righteous pray do not destroy/' But O, in Holy Writ we read, There were not ten without alloj* 14 Not even ten good holy men In those two cities could be found, So fire and brimstone from Heaven, then Burnt them and all upon the ground. The Lord, He says, went on His way, And Abraham to his own place. O may we all soon see the day When He the earth again will grace. Tis true we feel His presence still, But then we do not see His face, When we do all His will fulfil, All chang'd will be the human race. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Have the great God Almighty seen, But of His name, Jehovah, On this earth they had not a gleam. To Moses He did reveal This wonderful name with His law, Their covenant with Him did seal, Under this His new name Jah. The prophet Ezekiel saw, In vision, the Spirit of God ; What He spake to him was law ; Through thorns and briars he trod. The Spirit lifted him up Above worldly pleasures and cares; Drink from this spiritual cup, SaVd his soul from Satan's snares. 15 Jews, like the fathers of old, Do the great God Almighty know ; In Christ they do not behold, The one whose blood will save from woe. This God's Spirit soon will prove ; Once more God will to men return ; All Evil then he will remove, And men will every idol burn. His threefold essence none will doubt, Then all to His name, Jah, will bow, Mankind His praises loud will shout, And in one Temple all will vow. As Jesus' body knew no sin, God's Spirit did on him descend, And took up his abode within, A voice the Spirit did attend. When our Christ was glorified, On Him a cloud of light did shine, And the voice from Heaven cried, " This beloved Son is mine !" When He all His work had done, This cloud received Him out of sight ; But the voice said, " He will come Again in that bright cloud of light !" We should then at once prepare To welcome Jesus back once more ; If we God's own armour wear, God will Christ to us restore. 16 He will then this kingdom claim, Righteous thoughts and deeds prevail ; Sickness, sorrow, death and pain, Will not us then, as now, assail. Love to God and love to men Will in glorious beauty shine; Holy actions, all will then Improve that holy, happy time. None then groaning under sin, Will their Heavenly Father fear ; Washed and purified within, His voice mankind will long to hear. THE COMMANDMENTS. Our Father to mankind did give Ten commandments wise and good, When by these commands we live, The tree of life will yield her food. God in all hearts must reign supreme ; Idols there must find no place, No hoarded treasure seek to wean, Or hide us from His face. No likeness must engross our thoughts, In the earth, air, sky or sea, For God is jealous, and has taught That man to Him must bend the knee. God's name we must not take in vain ; Oaths must not our lips defile, And when we pray to His great name, Nothing must our lips beguile. 17 To ponder on God's wondrous love, One day in seven we must; rest, And raise our thoughts to things above ; God does thus obedience test. God has earthly parents given, All must honour and obey ; Homes will be a type of heaven, And prolonged will be our day. When our God and earthly parents Get from man what is their due, Then the former five great talents Will the other five renew. All malice will be put away. Anger, bitterness and strife, Will not incite a hand to slay, Shortening another's life. No selfish habits will control, Working out deceit and lies : Drinking not then, inflame the soul, Nor poisonous love the eyes. • Then, they that stole no more will steal ; All our labour will be sweet, None will envy, nor jealous feel, Nor any desire to cheat. False witnesses from earth will flee j Evil speaking then will cease, And man, just like the busy bee, Do his daily work in peace. 18 Each one happy in his home Will not covet other's things, But all, with one great mighty tone, Praise to God the Father sing. God's ten commands will then suffice ; Man's laws will not find a place, For we will then have done with vice, And all will be wise and chaste. A NEW PERIOD. City of Bethlehem, Christ's own House of Bread, From whence came the leaven That will raise the dead. Awake from thy darkness, Accept the true light ; Thy houses now cheerless, Will all then be bright. This desert shall rejoice, And bloom as the rose, For Messiah's sweet voice Sin's reign soon will close. The ransom'd will return, With joy on their heads, The redeem'd will sojourn, As prophets have said. With God's glory around, Thy mountains shall glow, When all hallowed the ground, A pure vine shall grow. 19 In whose branches the birds Shall sing with one song, And the fruit of Christ's words Be seen in the throng. No more shall the curse God's children oppress, Neither mourner nor hearse Their hearts shall distress. Awake, then, this New-Year, Arouse thee from sleep ; Angel voices I hear, Their vigils they keep. Hark ! the Archangel's voice Proclaims He is come, The righteous rejoice, A crown they have won. Earth's sweet Sabbath rest Long life will restore; Christ again as man's guest, Will reign evermore. AN APPEAL TO . THE WORLD IN GENERAL. The Citizens of the Dominion in Particular. Many Poems like these Are ready to print. The Saints will God please, If, after this hint, 20 They give freely their gold ; Such truths to display, God will blessings untold Shower down day by day. " The Christian's Wedding Ring/ The name it will bear ; For the Saviour our King, It bids earth prepare. It has search'd far and wide, Its gilding to find, But all lay it aside As too good to bind. " Write a novel or story, That will sell," they say ; Of our future glory, "Ono! that won't pay." For the body most men Their energies spend, But their souls now and then Would like them to lend A fair share of the wealth It helps to provide, For alas ! with great stealth, Its wants are supplied. Now, in this age of strikes, Before it rebels, Let this work see the light, It evil dispels. 21 God's own word is the mine Producing this ore ; With Christ's Spirit Divine All thus may explore. And produce finer gold, New beauties display, Which will never grow old, Nor ever decay. NAPOLEON'S DEATH. Another of the son's of men, Who did earth's glories taste,3 The Emperor Napoleon, Death stole away in haste. 'Midst scenes of woe, and joy, and mirth, His three-score years and five Have swiftly sped away on earth, No longer will he strive An earthly Empire here to guide, Or countrymen control ; The space that he and them divide, Angels alone patrol. The prize for which he strove — he won, While in his prime — and lost, Before his life on earth was done. Was it worth the fc cost ? Ambition, his besetting sin, Caus'd him to wage a war ; Amidst its roar and deaf ning din, He was the one lost star. These worldly crowns at best are nought, They yield no lasting joy ; When the battle of life is fought, Vain is the glittering toy. But virtue's crown will never fade, Nor will it dim with age, For each one such a crown is made, Strive for it and be sage. THE FOUR PERIODS OF THE WORLD. Four Periods the world has seen, God's wonders each has shown ; First mighty waters tried to wean Man from his gods of stone. The Patriarchal then begun, Some good men then did shine ; With might great Pharoah was undone, And Israel mov'd in line. The Levitical then burst forth, Its rays from Sinai came ; Gold images of greater worth Man worshipped all the same. This period clos'dwith awful death Of Christ, the Son of God ; Man worships still his gods of earth, And bends not to the rod. This great High Priest from death did rise, He taught men holy ways ; His body our great sacrifice, The dawn of brighter days. 23 This Period draws near its close, Evil has had its day ; God soon with goodness will descend, Reanimate the clay. Our spirits then will daily grow More lovely, more divine ; New graces then the soul will show, And round the body twine. THE DYING YEAR OF 1872. The dying of another year Brings round some memories dear, Of many joys that now are dead, Happy days which all have fled. But still hope welcomes to our hearts, New year with its open chart ; And if new lines we try to trace, Peace and joy will fill each face. The year from us does quickly hide ; One by one the minutes slide. Has it left golden threads behind ? All our future lives to bind. Or will its deeds, the coming year, Cause us many a groan and tear ? Have we been honest, just and true, Given God what is His due ? Have we smiled sweetly in our homes, Mounted high on virtue's throne, Been kind to all within our reach, Acted well what Christ did teach ? 24 These are the steps the Saints have trod, Gems like these their feet have shod ; May we, untarnished, like them, see The Reign of Christ in seventy-three. Wishing you all a Happy New Year, Light from God our hearts to cheer, Love to cement the Christian Ring, Altogether we will sing, Alleluia. THE SERPENT SATAN FALSE PROPHET THE TEINITY OF EYIL. THE EVIL SPIRIT. The Evil Spirit is the theme I now before you set in verse ; I wish to draw aside the screen, And all his ways and works rehearse. A Trinity of Evil see, Now surrounding land and sea ; St. John three unclean spirits saw Coming from the dragon's jaw. Like frogs, he says, they leapt about, Croaking all their evil out ; Working miracles, man to cleave, Just as he did first with Eve. What a deceiver he has been, This Prince of the pow'r of the air ; His only object, aim and scheme, That man should all his ruin share. Like light'ning he from Heaven fell, Knowing he never could return ; But would be closely shut in Hell, For endless ages to sojourn. While man, if he obey'd God's laws, He saw would fill his vacant place, And revel in all those great joys, He lost when he did Heav'n disgrace. This must have fill'd his wicked heart With envy, jealousy and hate, And led him on to play the part Which lur'd our parents to their fate. Then, as a serpent, he appears To a gentle trusting woman, Filling her mind with doubts and fears, As he leads her through the garden. " If that fine beauteous fruit you eat, 11 God will not surely make you die ; " As gods you will then take your seat, " And good from evil with your eye " Well opened, you will discern." Instead of which, how many sin On, day by day, with no concern, For he has made all dark within ; And death, the dreadful curse of man And beast, for near six thousand years The whole of this our earth doth span ; While Satan walks around and leers, Tempting each creature with his fruit, Which all too eagerly do taste ; His poison made each one to suit, And all his energies to waste. Job tells us of a certain day, When many of our God's own sons, Mov'd by a holy, heavenly ray, Together to the Lord did come. Among them Satan finds his way, And to the Lord himself did talk. " My servant Job, the Lord did say, 11 In true and upright paths doth walk." But Satan cunningly replies : " An hedge about him thou hast made ; " The reason why he me defies, Thy blessings have him firmly staid." Pow'r to Satan the Lord then gave, His servant Job to try and tempt ; Strong faith from Satan's wiles did save— His love to God they did cement. As Joshua the High Priest stands Before the Angel of the Lord, Satan resists at his right hand, But disappears at Angel's word. The filthy garments he had worn Were then from Joshua taken ; His head a mitre did adorn, When Satan had him forsaken. David by Satan was provok'd To number up Israel's hosts, By which God's anger he invok'd And sev'nty thousand men he lost. Thus David, Joshua and Job, Have sin and Satan seen and known; All Adam's children on this globe, Have been by Satan made to groan. Nothing but the Saviour's prayer Sav'd Simon Peter from his lair ; Three times he made him tell a lie, For which he afterwards did sigh. Jude says, the Devil did dispute, And the Archangel did refute ; Moses, for whom he did contend, This Angel Michael did defend. But Christ has bruis'd the Serpent's head, And curb'd his great and wondrous power ; When he returns to wake the dead, His Angel chains him in that hour LUKE XIII. 32. When Christ did on this earth appear, The Devil first as man was seen ; To tempt us he is always near — Various is his shape and mien. He dafd our Lord himself to tempt ; But foil'd, he plung'd with rage in men ; And women were not then exempt — From Magdalene Christ cast out seven. See how those devils knew our Lord, And trembled when they saw His face; They flew when He but spake the word — The swine into the lake did chase. The Devil still does men possess, When evil passions do enthral ; His idols seem to have a zest And pow'r to make men hear his call. Slyly he flatters and deceives, Allures each one with some device ; Inflates with pride or love of ease — With golden rays he does entice. Men blindly nibble at his fruit, Although its poison well they know His snares are laid each one to suit, Causing his evil seed to grow. To the twelve Christ gave the power To check the growth of sin in man ; From His throne He now does shower Grace on the means of his great plan, Which fills his sacraments with fire ; Gives strength to bruise the tempter's arts ; Preserves from Satan's rage and ire, Rendering harmless all his darts. Christ alone can extract the root And take the sting of death away ; When man does heed his Maker's suit, Christ will proclaim eternal day. THE TEMPTER'S ARTS. How grievous is the love of gain, When it does men's souls enchain ; Cheating and grasping all they can, Then the daily hourly plan. To gain a little bit of land, Many will soul and body strand ; Pass restless days and sleepless nights, Scheming plots for other's rights. They will cause you both pain and toil, If their arts you try to foil .; Against them you cannot succeed, Unless God does intercede. One with another will combine, To work out their dark design ; In a great circle they will join What they covet to purloin. 8 To be thought rich in gold and land, They will rob you underhand ; Thus many a noble life is lost, And with evil passions tost. Self, the sole object of each thought, When their labour comes to nougjit : The things of sight their value lose, Too late virtue's paths to choose. Despair drives on to darker deeds — Fruit of all their evil seeds — Worries the mind, wears flesh away, Clothes with sorrow and decay. 2nd Part. The love of gold absorbs all else, Men seem to live to gather pence ; Never content, their constant aim, Is gold and silver heaps to gain. Some make it in an honest way, With steady aim from day to day ; They gather coin, build mansions great, That they may live in grand estate. Some with sharp tricks and cheating ways, Their friends and foes alike betray ; Grow very rich, and very proud, And drive their horses with the crowd. Some save and scrape, and live by stealth, That men may bow to their great wealth ; These ends attained, they pass away, Are cut down as the new mown hay. Does it seem wisdom thus to live, And all our energies to give ; To gather what we cannot keep, And sow where we so little reap ? Gold is a useful thing, 'tis true ; All have a right to get their due ; But if for it our minds we strain, Then slyly Satan twines his chain ; Malting us selfish, mean and vain, The glory of this world our aim ; The heart grows cold, the eye grows dim, All from this great and grievous sin. Even the monkey has more sense, He prefers nuts to any pence ; Darwin's theory must be wrong, For man's improving is his song. SABBATH BREAKING. Am I robbing God or not, If I use the Sabbath day To work out my worldly plots, Or to mingle with the gay ? Six days work, one day of rest, Is our Maker's own command ; Man seems to think it's a jest, And heeds not this wise demand. Those we love, we try to please, Gladly we devote to them All our thoughts, our time, our ease, Giving all to sinful men ; 10 While we steal our Maker's hours, Just to take a little sail ; To stroll in beauty's bowers, Or write letters for the mail. Some read novels all the day, Visit all their friends around ; Gather Idols made of clay, With a false and hollow sound. Softly down these paths men tread, On the way to greater crimes ; Prisoners by Satan led, Willing captives to his wiles. Always craving something new, Peace of mind they never know ; Seldom any good pursue, And God's blessings from them throw. THE SIN OF DRINKING. Serpents of every kind are seen, Winding through the forest glade ; In search of prey their eyes do gleam, Finding victims in its shade. The Serpent lures with magic eye — Courage flies beneath his gaze ; The victim tries in vain to fly, Fascinated, there it stays. Poison and death from him have sprung, And in ev*ry mouth is found ; Saliva to our lips has clung — Death our bodies does surround. . 11 With lightning dash the creature springs, And at once does it enfold ; Coils round and round ; and to it clings, Till its jaws its body hold. When Eve did with the Serpent talk, Subtle he was, it is said ; But then he on his feet did walk ; Now, all creatures do him dread. Our very blessings made a curse That which should have cheered the heart, Causing constant craving thirst — Sowing vice of eVry sort. Drink is the greatest curse of sin, Few the habit can control ; It makes all black and dark within — Ruins body, mind and soul. It is many a household's foe, Wearing flesh and health away ; Dragging souls down to endless woe ; Hiding from them Christ our stay. Just like a little pebble thrown In water, quiet and calm, It ruffles and disturbs this stone, All the circle that it can. One seldom hears of any crime, Where drink has not play'd its part ; It seems to be the evil mine, With veins pointing to the heart. But Jesus, who was all Divine, New life offers to those veins ; Drink in faith His love in wine, And thus shake off Satan's chains. 12 FLIRTING. Flirting is a fearful thing, Leads to much sorrow and shame ; Hearts it does with sorrow wring, It should some attention claim. Little children now we see, Whose hearts should be pure indeed, Looking all around with glee, For a little of this weed, Which, when planted, grows apace, Spoils that sweet and lovely bloom, Which should shine on each young face, Many virtues does entomb. Then when these young people wed, Flirting ways they cannot change ; They continue, without dread, And each other's hearts estrange. Then the little daily strife Wears till it creates a sore ; Tarnishing the joys of life, Gnawing out love's very core. There can be no sadder sight Than a home with hearts grown cold ; Without love, its beacon light, Serpents poison and enfold. Just as one did Mother Eve, With a little gentle sting ; Each the other does deceive, And to utter ruin bring. 13 THE SIN OF LYING. The devil's children must tell lies, He always has a liar been To speak the truth, they never try He always from it tries to wean. First disobey then tell a lie, If you my wages wish to gain, God surely will not make you die He must have whisper'd unto Cain. It does seem strange when Abel died, That fear of man should fill Cain's mind That with a lie he thought to hide A deed of such a dreadful kind. From the great God whose truth he saw In his dead brother's form of clay, Why was he not o'erwhelm'd with awe Instead of fear that man would slay. The devil held him in his grasp, And gently from his God withdrew, He slowly fasten'd on the mask That hid from him the wise and true. This is the way he marches round, Filling the earth with lying seed, And trying to maintain his ground By urging men to wicked deeds. CHURCH MUSIC. Is it true that notes of praise In our churches discords raise ; Evil does in there intrude, Even there he tries to brood 14 Why should we to Satan yield ? Let us drive him from the field ; Sift and see though he defies And poor human nature tries. Some no organ will allow, — To this prejudice they bow ; Some will not stand up to sing, — Never think of such a thing. Young boy singers clad in white Are to some a great delight. Ladies some call to their aid, But then they must now be paid. Some make music the one thing, People flock to hear them sing ; Finish up with some new lay, Just to make the people stay. Organs are of ancient date, For in man's primeval state Harp and organ we are told, Jubal could himself take hold. And in Chronicles we read When King David saw the need For the Ark to pitch a tent, He for Priests and Levites sent. That they might prepare to sing, Praises to our God and King ; They did Chenaniah choose, Because he among the Jews Was most skilful in the song, And could best instruct the throng ; David dress'd in linen white. Singers, Levites all in sight. 15 Priests did all their trumpets blow, And the Word doth further show They play'd cornets, cymbals, harps- Shouting forth with all their hearts ; And in Nehemiah's day Priests and Levites met to pray, With singers, instruments and all, Who upon the Lord did call. Thus it seems that Jewish times Brought forth more united chimes ; When to Christ Jews bend the knee, Christians will their errors see. THE TEMPTER'S FRIENDS. Come, friends, the Summer is coming on fast, The Winter is now very nearly past ; Let us pitch our tents, and arrange our ways, Where there are no Holy Sabbath days. Lachine, they say, is a very nice place, Then to it we all must most surely haste ; The rich and the poor are gathering there, So it is plain we have no time to spare. Our company must be very select, Satan, our guide, we'll agree to elect ; The seventh day in his amusements spend, He will give us fun, and some money lend. We will moor our boats on Saturday night, And start in the morning, just at day-light ; It would be just as well to get away When people are looking the other way ; 16 For when all the Church bells begin to ring ; And these good Christians begin to sing, We'll feel our bodies are stealing the rest, Our souls would enjoy with relish and zest. But now 'tis too late our ways to change, Our habits are form'd, our plans arranged ; Our spiritual eyes are firmly sealed, Our future Satan has well concealed. THE LAST BATTLE. Lucifer, who from Heaven fell And whose domain is now calPd Hell, Would gladly wander over earth And gather angels for his hearth. Lucifer knows his time is short, Thus he is luring every sort ; Some with gold, and some with wine, Some he draws with a steady line. Lucifer, when he makes men sin, Whispers, " it is but a little thing ; " Taste and try it, it is really sweet ;" He soon persuades, and mankind eat Lucifer is cunning and sly ; He never works, but he must lie ; His greatest card, a pile of gold, Draws foolish souls into his hold. Lucifer's door is near at hand ; Goodness will drive him from this land ; Then death, our enemy, will flee, And man will purely happy be. 17 THE KINGDOM. The question is on earth who reigns, Who is it holds man's heart in chains, Who tempts us with his golden rays, And tries to make us passion's slaves. Look at the young and lovely babe, Perfect by his Creator made. How soon will anger spoil that face, And rob it of its sweetest grace. Before it speaks it disobeys, And seems to crave for evil ways. The tongue soon learns to tell a lie, For which 'tis hard to make it sigh. If Christ had not put on a curb, Nothing would evil still disturb, His good and noble early life Has this kingdom fill'd with strife. He told us that he brought a sword That would us through sins' river ford, And with the sword, Faith's golden chain This dreadful battle to maintain. As long as man this conflict fights Death will put him out of sight, The hour of temptations come, The voice will soon proclaim 'tis done. The time of peace is drawing near, Then we will nothing have to fear, The former things will pass away, And we will Christ all homage pay. 18 THE VICTORY. "Jvil now sits in glory great, Spreading round his tempting bait ; Luring us with the things of sight, To the realms of endless night. Two spirits now for us contend, And our wills' behests attend ; One will with holiness array, The other leads our steps astray. The good must trust, and watch and wait ; Their reward anticipate ; For while this world is rul'd by sin, They their glory cannot win. Christ comes again with a reprieve, When the Jews in him believe ; Then as the King of David's line, He will open out their mine. Then earth will be Heaven below, Time no longer will us mow ; Many purified then will be, And made white that all shall see. All hallowed then our Father's name, Christ will this his Kingdom claim ; His will on earth will then be done As in Heaven it is sung. He will give us our daily Bread, And the Blood which he has shed Will furnish food for soul and mind Of the best and rarest kind. 19 Our trespasses God will forgive, And will give us strength to live, As Christ did walk so good and kind, To each other's faults quite blind. Temptations then will not assail ; For our sight will pierce the vail Of that dark desolated land, Where evil dwells on ev'ry hand. The wicked there will all have fled, Captive then by Satan led ; Banished for ever from the sight Of God's presence pure and bright. Satan having claimed his own, And withdrawn them to his home ; In glory on the mercy seat, God will his good subjects meet. With might and power then will shine The wisdom of our God Divine ; Mankind will then his name adore, Pray and praise him evermore. DEATH. Death now places his icy hand On ev'ry creature in the land, As people walk along the street, Hearse or mourner they're sure to meet. Why is it so ? My spirit asks, The young, the old must wear his mark, Must drive along the dusty street, And furnish to the worms his meat. G 20 Nor cloister'd cell nor stately hall, But what must answer to his call The rich, the poor, the fool, the wise Go to the grave yard, there he lies. What is the reason, angel hear Why must I part with all that's dear. Why must I leave this lovely earth, And make an end of all my mirth. The angel whisper'd in my ear, Man's idols make death tarry here, Unite with faith and Christian love, And soon will come the Holy Dove. Who when he comes will clear the way, Illumine all things with his ray, Restore to us the life we lost, And make us like, the Heav'nly Host I To His Most Illustrious Majesty », THE GRAND SEIGNEUR AND SULTAN Of the Ottoman Empire : In the year 1870, I offered you my congratulations on the successful manner which you accomplished the opening of the Canal, which gives direct communication from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea ; and the visit of the Empress of France, at that time in all her glory, seems to have been the commencement of direct intercourse between Turks and Christians, preparing the way for the return of the Jews to Jerusalem — which event appears to me to be very near at hand. Since then, the Empress has been bereft of her husband and driven from the country where she reigned supreme — teaching us that we live in a time of wonderful changes. Indeed, the signs of the times are such as to make all men prepare for the Second coming of the Lord; and, if He is indeed coming with ten thousand of His Saints, as prophesied by Enoch, the seventh from Adam, all should use their talents to bring the world to one united Faith and Practice. You and I agree in the fact that all the world is descended from Noah, and the first good man who is mentioned after the Flood is Abraham, from whom both you and I descend, — for he had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, both circumcised after the law, (the Jews are the descendants of Isaac, the Mahomedans of Ishmael). Christ was descended in a direct line from Isaac, and we are baptised and by that means made his children, by adoption. Now Abraham believed that a Sacrifice of Blood was needed, and for that faith the Lord himself appeared to him twice and promised him that, " In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, (Genesis xii., 3,) " All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Genesis xviii., 18,) " and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, (Genesis xxii., 18.) If Christ, then, in whom we believe, was the Lord who appeared to our Father Abraham three different times, He must have been the child of promise, of whom Isaac was the Type. Our natural birth does not make us Christians. We may be born of Christian parents, in a Christian land ; but, unless baptised of water and of the Spirit, we are neither of the nation or family of Christ, nor is the seed of the Holy Spirit sown in our hearts. Christ, then, in whom we believe, and whose children we are made by baptism, was circumcised and fulfilled the law in every particu- lar. Without the Divine nature of God he could not have done this, for human nature, since the fall, has been unable to do any- thing perfectly. Christ suffered death, in order that every creature that breathed the breath of life might be set free from the bondage of sin, and so fitted to appear before God, the Maker of the world. Thus, we see that Abraham believed in Christ before He (Christ) came into the world ; we have the testimony of living witnesses who saw Him, and the daily fulfilment of Prophecies which he could not have understood ; for as God divided the Red Sea on former days to allow the Jews to pass through on dry land, so now he has allowed you to make a passage through the Red Sea to the Holy Land, the place in which the Prophet Joel, hund- reds of years ago, prophesied the descent of the Holy Spirit, and where Micah says, (chap, iv., 6, 7,) all the nations of the earth will come to a knowledge of the truth. " The Rabbins say, that when the lot was taken, a scarlet fillet was bound on the Scape Goat's head, and after the High Priest had confessed his and the people's sins over it, the fillet became white ; this miracle ceased, according to them, forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, exactly when Jesus Christ was crucified." Now, it may be that our blood was white before the Evil Spirit's poison entered our veins, and this miracle may have been intended to show that God will purify and make white again the blood of those who spiritually partake of those Sacraments that God has provided for the soul's nourishment We know that Christ shed his blood drop by drop to make atonement for the sins of the whole world, not for a few Christians or a few Jews, — not for one sect or one church, — but for the sins of the whole world, to satisfy Divine Justice and Mercy \ and when mankind begins to realize this fact, the sole object of their lives will be to become pure, Holy and Christ-like, and to make this earth a Heaven below. But the Soul, like the body, must use the Blood to make it pure, in the same way as the body requires to use water to make it clean. Nothing but the use of water can keep the body in health ; nothing but the use of Christ's Blood can cleanse and purify the soul. There are at present in the world numberless sects, but only four religions : Jews, Mahomedans, and Christians, who worship the one holy and true God, and Heathens who worship Idols of wood or stone or false Gods ; all four of which seem represented by Jewish offerings, which were first the offering of the herds of the flock, a shadow of the Jewish Faith which, until Christ came, always slew a lamb for their Passover. The offering of the first fruits, which was Cain's offering, rejected of God, typifying the Mahomedan. The Peace offering, which was a type of Christ himself ; for St. Paul, in Ephesians ii., 14, says : " Christ is our Peace, he has broken down the wall of sin that hid us from God. And the offering of the sin of ignorance, which repre- sents the Heathen, who surely worship, in ignorance, Idols of wood and stone. If this is the case, how truly did St. Paul say in Hebrews x., 1 : "The Law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of those things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." Before addressing you, I have devoted myself to the study of the Prophet Mahomet and the English version of the Koran. The Prophet appears before me with a tall and commanding figure, strong in mind, earnest in purpose, and sincere in what he pro- fessed and wrote, with great reverence for the Almighty God, but wanting in the knowledge of God's threefold Essence as mani- fested in the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Al- though I find in the Koran many proofs which have helped to 6 strengthen my faith in Christianity, a few of which I will quote : Take page 13 of 2nd Book, " The Angel Gabriel is said to have caused the Koran to descend on his heart ;" now it is the Holy : Spirit of God alone that puts every good thought in our hearts ; the page 36 of 3rd Book says : " O Lord, thou shalt gather man- kind together unto a day of resurrection : there is no doubt of it, for God will not be contrary to his promise." Now, in Revelations chap, i., 7, it says : " Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Then page 40, 41 speaks of "God," "the Angel," and the "Word," the three distinct offices of Father, Son and Spirit Then chapter 19, page 251, calls Jesus the Son of Mary, "the Word of Truth," proving plainly Christ's divine and human nature. It is a great mystery and hard to understand ; but the Devil is a mystery, and his temptations quite beyond our comprehension, and often so veiled that we scarcely see them till we have felt their sting ; one thing is certain, it is his chief object to keep all mankind from knowing God as a God of infinite Love, so great that He condescended to live on earth, with man, and to die for man, so that God's justice might be satisfied. If God, who made the world and all mankind, breathed into man a spirit which shall never die, could He not breathe into Christ's human body a Spirit which should never sin. Then that body, not having been polluted by sin, would be an Atonement for all the world, provided they had faith strong enough to believe that Divine wrath was satisfied ; but we must have a living Faith, not a trust in Fate or Islem. The beautiful plates, which appeared in the London papers, of the splendid ceremony which attended the opening of the Canal, on that memorable 17th November, 1870, afforded their readers much pleasure ; but the sublime idea of having the work Hessed by all religions was the dawn of a new period — and all those vessels, with their various flags, sailing in one direction, under one guide, a foreshadowing of the time when all will sail under the Banner of the Cross, with one King, even Christ. Then those canopies and gorgeous arrangements will again draw together the Jew with the Crescent, beneath the Cross — around which will twine that living vine, whose fruit will strengthen and renew all that eat and drink, in faith, of that spiritual food, which> though now lost to our natural sight, through sin, is still within the reach of the faithful. The writer hopes that these remarks will induce the Turks to search the Scriptures, and see who was the true Prophet, Christ or Mahomet. The latter, in his life, had many more followers than Christ ; but after the lapse of so many years, which has been the greatest benefit to mankind — Mahommadism, which was estab- lished at the point of the sword, or the Christian one, which will only shine forth in all its beauty when our swords are firmly fas- tened in their sheaths ? 6 That you, when Christ returns to reign for a thousand years, may have your name written in the Book of Life, is the sincere wish of the writer, who is a Christian Lady, of the first city of the first Dominion in the world. — (Micah iv., 8.) THE CHRISTIAN'S FAITH. O ! Turkish maidens fair and bright, Bring all your Crescents to the light ; Try Mahomet's laws by Christ's commands, And see with whom the glory stands. The Koran's page in this our day, Transmits a secondary ray ; Its gems all borrow'd seem to be, From God's word sent to you and me. When Mahomet wrote that wondrous work, Which chang'd the Heathen to a Turk, The word of God was then fulfill'd, And Abram's seed with truth instill'd. But now God's spirit comes with pow^r ; Make ready friends for that great hour, When pain and sorrow, sickness, woe, And all man's troubles here below Will from this earth be swept away — God will restore eternal day — And diamonds, crowns and precious stones, Will shine on those who fill the thrones. THE CHRISTIAN'S LOVE. Jewish maidens, far and near, Come to God's messenger and hear The wondrous tale the word reveals, Of He who all our sorrow heals. 'Tis true, He died by Jewish bands ; But Christians too have pierc'd his hands j Drawn blood and water from his side ; Inflicted pangs of human pride. The sacrifice that He has made ; The thorns that on his brow were laid ; Will draw sin's poison from our veins, And cleanse our souls from all sin's stains. O ! let me lift the veil that hides The Saviour's virtues from your eyes. O ! let me teach you that you must, Like Him, be perfect, pure and just. At once begin your lamps to trim, With holy fire and grace within ; Come quickly to the marriage feast Of Jewish, Turkish, Christian Priest. THE CHRISTIAN'S CROSS. For nearly nineteen hundred years Christians have been shedding tears ; Struggling, striving, meekly bearing Scorns and slights ; yes, ever wearing Satan's grievous heavy crosses, And trying to maintain the loss Of the One who came to teach them How to live like Christian men. For forty long and weary days, The Saviour, with evil ways The Tempter tried to overcome, But there he found himself undone. He calmly yielded up his life, Pierc'd to the heart with all the strife ; He hasten'd to the spirit land — Such love is hard to understand. 3 Again He trod this sinful ground, And shed His glory all around, For forty days, obedient, kind, All virtue's graces left behind. He rose above us out of sight, But still he cheers our souls with light ; The spark that lit the Heav'nly flame Will forever our souls sustain. Soon He will come in regal state, With an array of angels great ; No crosses then for us to bear — Our crowns will meet us in the air. Prepare then, all the bridegrooms near ; Ten thousand saints will see and hear ; The righteous then will hardly stand — • The wicked fall on every hand. On hearing a sermon on the 63rd Isaiah, 3rd verse: " I HAVE TRODDEN THE WINEPRESS ALONE." Christ has trodden alone The wine press, to atone ; He bore the burden of sin, And drew from it the sting. His soul such sorrow knew, That from its lips it drew ; " This cup, Father, pass away, "Thy will to do, I pray." In drops he sweat his blood To stop the fatal flood ; The agony was great, Our race to reinstate. Come then to this pure vine, And drink his blood in wine ; In bread His body take, And sin will us forsake. Our faith will then defeat The tempter's arts we meet ; The mercy seat will shine Again with light divine. The Jews, in days of yore, The Temple purg'd with gore ; Then birds and beasts supplied The blood that justified. Two goats the High Priest brought ; And as he had been taught, He lots for them did cast, That one he might make fast, A sin offering to make, That God would not forsake ; The other he cast away, For Jewish sins to pay. A scarlet fillet bound The scape goat's head around ; To white its color chang'd, Till virtue Christ maintain'd Now even Rabbins say, This miracle that they So long beheld did cease, When death did Christ release. If once the blood was white, And men both pure and bright, When sin we learn to shun, Again, as then, will run The pure blood in our veins ; Christ then will take the reins, And fill with joy our hearts, For Satan then departs. When Faith and Works embrace, And all our actions grace ; Then look ! behold the sign Of the Millenium, Time. All Idols forsaken, New life will awaken ; Both the body and soul Christ will cleanse and make whole ; For His woes paid the cost, And the joys Adam lost To this earth will return, When God's truth we all learn. THE WRECK OF THE ATLANTIC, On Mars Island, ist April, 1873. A ship well built as man can boast, Has just founder'd on the coast Of a rocky Island, — Mars by name, Sad the nature of its fame. Ten days had hardly pass'd away Since with hearts both light and gay, Almost a thousand souls embark'd In this ship, this treach'rous ark. When all on board are wrap't in sleep, But the watch, who vigils keep ; Just three o'clock, " All's well," they shout, " Hark ! breakers ahead I look out 1 " 6 The vessel strikes against a rock, And receives a fatal shock ; The boilers burst, she over heels, To the raging water yields. Which draws her down beneath the wave, Hundreds find a watery grave ; Both men and women, girls and boys, Hush'd are all their fears and joys. These left their friends no parting word, One loud shriek alone was heard ; No Priest could make them then confess, No religion them redress. Alone their spirits all did soar, To that unknown distant shore ; Some to return with glory great, Some to find the truth too late. Some were saVd by means of rope, When almost bereft of hope ; One by Ancients Priestly hand Was in safety brought to land. This teaches us not to despair, But to lift our hearts in prayer ; To use the means God has ordain'd, And then all will be regained. THE ST. LAWRENCE, As she appeared on the igth April, 1873. River St. Lawrence in a shroud, Is sleeping peacefully Around her banks behold a crowd, Awaiting anxiously. To see her burst those icy bands, They very fearfully Cast their eyes on all low lands While praying fervently. That she will not their ground o'erflow But gently, peacefully, They wish her to awake and show Quiet and gratefully. That for her blessed time of rest, Which they bore patiently, She will assume her very best, Retiring modestly. One might suggest a melting mood, So that she carefully Should change her death like attitude, And come out joyously. With dress of beaut'ous wavy blue, Then all will lovingly Pay her the homage that is due, By sailing joyously. And then with hearts both light and gay, All will most thankfully Enjoy the summer holiday, Hailing her cheerfully. All working with labour and skill Quite industriously, Tracing out the Creator's will, Yes, harmoniously. A PRAYER. Thy work is waiting, Father dear, For means to send it forth, O, send me some kind friend to cheer ; One that will see its worth. Some say, poor thing, how very sad, To see such waste of time, Such writing soon will make you mad; Don't write another line. Do help the work I gently plead Its precepts all are true ; I have not any time to read, So 'tis in vain to sue. Do be advised another says, A cent you'll never make For good books no one ever pays, So no more trouble take. Reform the world, another cries, All very fine to talk, Man now has grown so very wise, In sin he likes to walk. Still hope is lurking in my breast, Some saint, I think, I'll find, To say, O what a welcome guest, I'll store it in my mind. Its precepts all are good and true, Great and grand its aims, Reject them not because they're new, And teach one self to tame. 9 Subdue one self, how great the thought, Keep each passion down, How Christ-like, just what Jesus taught, No longer he will frown. Once more I urge its claims, pray help To spread its praise around, I always said, and always felt God's work in it resounds. For no one could alone have trac'd A book of such a kind, Its pages with such beauties grac'd, As you in it will find. And though each person may have read Its contents oft before, Some soul may in it find the thread, One temple to restore. 10 TEUTH. A stripling in the search of truth To foreign lands did wend his way, In musty books this charming youth Thought he could find truth's holy ray Of course no trace of truth he found, So thought that in his head would place Ancient learning most profound, Sweeten'd with pleasure to his taste. The folly pleas'd his body well, The learning fill'd his mind with pride ; His spirit well he could not tell, Why he its food did always hide. Years pass'd, and as he older grew, Some change he thought it well to see ; A little gold would make things new, So daily work it then must be. His idol gold at once became, All search for truth he set aside ; His heart he set on earthly gain, And Satan soon became his guide. Some years in piling gold he pass'd, But there all trace of truth he lost ; Now heaps of gold he has amass 'd, But Oh ! to him how great the cost. When he reach'd the palace of truth, No passport had he in his mind, The angel asked him why in youth He had not gathered of this kind ? 11 He said that truth was once his aim, But all is false and hollow here ; The angel did to him exclaim, Did not Christ teach you how to steer. Had you your bible daily sought For grace and strength to overcome You would have learnt and others taught How this glittering gem is won. The man then paus'd quite sad, to think He never there had thought to look, For joys to fill that missing link, The way of truth in G-od's own book. A PEAYEE. teach me, teach me, Lord, I pray, How I can thy work array, That it may draw the Jew to thee, At thy cross to bend the knee. To make them feel thou hast been here, All our hearts with love to cheer ; To teach them that thy pow'r so great Chose to come in low estate. The evil one so well ensnares, Hearts so fills with earthly cares, That works like mine they do not prize, For it so the spirit tries. But, if God's truth it does contain, He my efforts will sustain, And, in spite of all man's pride, Will disperse it far and wide. 12 Pray, Esau's sons, come chaff the wheat I Draw Christ from his heavenly seat ! Search with me this precious mine* And you will with glory shine. Come humbly to the throne of grace, Worship him, who fills all space, With faith and love, a small return Which Christ left his throne to earn. Pride is the Evil One's delight — For it hides Grod from our sight ; Like children, try to learn and trust That G-od's plan is wise and just. The veil must rise from off your eyes, Before Jesus you can prize ; And earth can never heaven become Till your homage Christ has won. Death draws us, now, with noiseless tread ; Generations he has led Through his great valley, dark and lone, Breaking up man's earthly home. Gloom and darkness, sorrow and woe, Are found where his scythe doeh mow ; He persecutes the human race — Each in turn he does embrace. The aged parent, child, and slave, All descend into the grave ; It matters little what your creed, Each in turn that way proceed. Then let me urge, yes, beg, entreat, That my work you soon will greet With a generous, welcome look, Searching well through all the book. 13 Then making trial of its truth, By imparting it to youth ; So that the glory it portrays May be brought within our gaze. SECOND PART. Our lives are all a mystery, From our childhood to old age ; Each one would make a history, And fill full many a page. A warfare rages all through life, Man's heart, the great prize, to gain, 'Tis evil causes all the strife, And with sin our souls does chain. God sends good angels us to guide, Holy seed within to plant ; The Devil watches, makes us slide, And with evil does enchant. King David was both pure and good, When God's house he thought to build ; He tasted of the tempter's food, And with sin his soul he fill'd. When Nathan, who the Lord did send His servant to reprimand, Convinced him he must amend, And obey his God's command. He shewed him how life's journey all With great blessings God had crown'd Whenever he on him had call'd His enemies scatter'd round. 14 And if that had been too little, More for him he would have done, If he had kept each tittle Of the law, like Christ His son. Jesus, in his warfare, conquer'd, He the tempter did dethrone ; His kingdom he has enter'd, And he soon will reign alone. When the Church in new apparel, For her spouse is really drest, God will wean man from his idol, And give earth her heav'nly rest. King David's Son on earth will reign, On Mount Zion's holy hill j Then sin God will with iron chain, And his love in our hearts instill. Hasten then, his throne is waiting, The elect are all prepar'd, delay not your repenting, Or your souls will be ensnar'd. THE FIRST TEMPLE. The first Eve brought much sorrow to man, Disarrang'd th' Almighty's plan ; She did what she should not have done, — The great web of evil spun. She shut the windows of heaven, She fill'd our hearts with leaven, She put a vail over our eyes "Which our body petrifies. 15 When sin and sinners did abound, God with water hid the ground ; God opened his windows in wrath, And cover'd the earth with froth. One man, call'd Noah, God did spare As he did an ark prepare, And seven others, for his sake, He did with him in it take. 'Mid heaven and earth, this floating ark — This one little, lonely bark Held all, in love, that God could save From a dreadful, watery grave. For sin had so mankind disgrac'd, That God them almost effac'd. Noah, alone, his God obey'd, So his family were sav'd. Through jeers and taunts this ark was made j Ponder well and be afraid ! One man, one ark, the race preserv'd, When from truth the rest had swerv'd. That one did faithfully fulfil In all things his Maker's will ; The length, the breadth, the height, he made By the rule God for him laid. One door, one window did it grace, And three stories found a place ; Eooms in compartments did divide — God did all its movements guide. A little spark of light does gleam From this little tiny thing — Fit emblem of the temple, where God hears and answers prayer. 16 Had Noah kept the ark well clos'd, Death had never interpos'd, For while within it they did rest, Death did never them molest. But, when he to the earth return'd, The first sacrifice he burned Show'd symptoms of an evil heart, Which death's shadows did impart. The fathers, each, and all, did raise Altars, the Lord God to praise ; Like Abel they did sacrifice Blood, whose incense reached the skies, But still, Death did these fathers take Across his mysterious lake ; And ever since he has prevail'd, And his woes on man entail'd. When God to Moses had made known How he should for sin atone, He built an altar 'neath a hill, Blood upon and 'round did spill ; Twelve pillars there did represent The twelve tribes, who, penitent, To God their offerings did bring, Which from thankful hearts did spring. For they did all, with one accord, Promise to obey the Lord ; The people did God's presence feel, He his glory did reveal. A tabernacle, then, we see, Where these tribes did bend the knee, — A covering which God desir'd, And his holy things requir'd. 17 Ten curtains did to it pertain, Which were parted just in twain, With five on each side, so entwin'd That they were, it seems, design 'd To cover all the means of grace, Center'd in this hallow'd place ; Whose door God's glory did defend When their worship did ascend. Whenever man to God does pray Satan in his cunning way Inserts some little secret sin, That some homage he may win. Soon Israel's sons their pride betray- For an earthly king they pray ; To their request he did accede After he with them did plead. God as their king they did reject, Saul he for them did select ; Samuel did with oil anoint, After God did him appoint. But Saul did fail God's word to keep, Sin did all his senses steep, And God another king did name, Bidding Samuel him proclaim. David, the second Jewish King, Did conceive a wondrous thing ; To goodness he his heart inclin'd, The first temple he design'd. And for it he did well prepare, Silver, gold, and jewels, rare ; But, it from building did refrain, For he had so many slain. 18 The temple, that God's glory fill'd, Solomon, his son, did build ; With beauteous wood and fine-hewn stone, This glorious temple shone. In every country, now, we find Temples of all sorts and kind ; But none can, like the first one, show The fire which in it did glow, Nor does God's glory in them shine As it did in former time ; Some reason there must surely be Why these things we cannot see. We now no sacrifice do need, Christ for all the good does plead ; But oh ! let all together pray For a beam of that lost ray. But, alas ! the Devil has made The temple his grand arcade ; He has made men believe, with pride, There in priests they should confide. Memorials of the human kind In it, ev'rywhere, we find ; God's glory these must much efface, This is not their proper place. Apostles, prophets, martyrs, saints With great care the artist paints, The house of God to beautify, But they really testify How sadly we do magnify Acts by which we glorify The great and mighty King of kings, From whom ev'ry creature springs. 19 Thus in each church he finds a place Where he does himself encase ; This place he must at once resign When we all our prayers entwine. United, we will him defy, And the Church will purify ; Jesus will then his people guide, And his Church become his bride. Malachi says, that when we pay God his tithes, in his own way, Heav'ns windows will open wide, God will bless instead of chide. LOT'S WIFE. Remember, I pray, That terrible day, When Sodom, with flame, Lit up all the plain. Then, think of Lot's wife, How she lost her life ; She knew, well, the way, But wish'd for delay. One lingering look, — Death her overtook ; She God disobey' d — Her soul thus betray'd. Her frame then became A pillar of shame ; Banished for ever — One stroke did sever 20 From friend and from foe, To regions of woe ; Take warning by this ! For moments of bliss Do not sacrifice Your heavenly prize — With Zoar in sight Had she been upright, Her name with renown Would be handed down ; Fly, then, to Zoar ! There is but one door. If we put away pride, The Spirit will guide, And give us the grace Sin lost to the race. THE TABERNACLE WITH THE COURT AND CAMP. A The Tabernacle. B The Laver. C The Altar of burnt offering. D The Court. E The Cloud of Glory. 23 Dear Jewish Friends, — Your believe that man was first tempted by a woman under the influence of the serpent, who of course, was the Evil Spirit. We Christians believe that our Christ was the Lamb slain from the foun- dations of the world. The Lamb, typified in Isaac, who died that we might live, who took upon him our nature and was born of a woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit. Would that God might enable me, a mere woman as I am, and one who has been led through the wilderness of this world by the special providence of God for many years, through, I may say, as strange trials and troubles as have ever fallen to the lot of a human being, to lift from your eyes the veil which hides from you a Saviour's love. My object in writing is not to open a controversy, but to induce you to search the scriptures and see if Christ has not fulfilled those prophecies which has, since the days of your father Abram, led you to look for a perfect human sacrifice for sin, so that Moses, in whom you trust, shall not accuse you hereafter, for Christ said " Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me. — John v. 46. As soon as your people kneel to Christ in faith the reign of truth will dawn upon the earth and Christ's spiritual reign begins. As the Messiah Christ will then return, either per- sonally or spiritually, to be our king, and reign over you in Jerusalem, the Holy City. My subject, then, is — " Christ, the Son op God." Text — John 8, 14. " Though I bear record of my- self yet my] record is true ; for I know whence I came and whither I go." A Unitarian tract before me, by W. G. Eliot, D.D., (written with the object of proving that Christ was I 24 without the divine nature of God,) takes this same text ; but in how different a light do I see it. None but God could know whence He came or whither He went. None of the inspired men of the Old Testa- ment knew it, nor does any one living know it. God, in His mercy, has sent us His Bible as a rule of life, that we might first learn to know His will, and then practise it. All efforts to keep the law perfectly in the best living creature must fall far short of what God requires. Therefore, Christ appeared himself to your fathers in the form of a man, and then con- descended to be born of a pure virgin, fulfilling, in every particular, the Prophecy of Isaiah, (Isaiah vii. 14) for God's justice required a sacrifice ; so the second person in the blessed Trinity came in the person of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins in His blood to purify and prepare our bodies for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and " by one offering he hath perfect- ed forever them that are sanctified," (Hebrews x. 14.) Though the Devil had the great power to ruin the beau . tiful creature that God had made, still the power that made had the power to restore. The redemption of the world is a work of wonderful love and mercy, so complete that man can neither add anything to it nor take anything from it. God now offers us greater happiness and beauty than we lost, — giving us, how- ever, the free will to choose whether we will have for our Father God, who loves us, or the Devil, who hates us. As He said to your fathers He now says to us — " Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." The Devil hates us because he once had all those joys as his own which Christ has now prepared for us; he having lost them, does not choose that we shall ever enjoy them. Christianity, thank God, to those who have at times felt the power of the Holy Trinity on the soul, is so far beyond all human philosophy that none but those who have felt its 25 power, feel that there are no words in which to express it, but Christ's own words to Nicodemus — " Ye must be born of water and of the Spirit," — which must have been intended to teach the use of baptism instead of circumcision, in this, obeying the law, which obedience will lead you to believe the Gospel, and see in Christ the Messiah for whom you still look. To sit at the feet of Jesus, to learn His will, as the Unitarians do, from His human nature instead of His divine, reminds me of a child going to a lesson of any sort with the hope of learning that lesson by the teacher merely reading it to him, — if it was music, playing it for him, or a language, speaking it to him, or drawing, sketching it for him. No faith to believe that the teacher is a being, composed of body, mind, and soul or spirit, — endowed with the power of imparting that knowledge and of fixing it as it were on the mind or soul for ever. Now, this is a mystery. Can you explain it ? No. Do you believe it ? Yes. God is a spirit. God made man, (we are told by Moses in Genesis,) after His own image. If, then, you believe that you are made of three parts — body, mind, and soul, why cannot you believe that God made us by His power, justified us by His love, and in mercy sanctified us by His Holy Spirit, so that by the action of all the Three in One who made us, God's justice might be appeased ? The world is beginning to grow old j time is hast- ening us on to the end of all things. Would it not be wise, instead of trying to find out whether the world was built in six days or as many thousand years — why God has not informed us more on this subject and more on that — why this was not put in the Old Testament and that left out of the New ? I repeat it, would it not be wiser to try to become more humble, loving Christians, striving to follow out the 26 God-like graces of the Saviour, — looking at him as he is, — the beautiful picture of what Adam was before the fall, — as also, of God's revealed will to man, which he gave to Moses on the Mount on two tables of stone ? If Christ were not God, why did He come at all, and why as a child ? We knew our duty from the law, and we have no more power now to keep it perfectly than before Christ came. God's justice required a perfect sacrifice for sin, to do away with your many sacrifices and to reconcile us to him- self, — to purify, to wash us from our sins. His coming as a man would have been quite useless, for we know that a person may be very moral without being at all religious. Christ does not say you must keep the law to the letter or you will never see the Lord; but it is said "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Our hearts tell us that of ourselves we are not holy, then there was need of a sacrifice and that a holy one. The angels are not perfect, or Satan would not have fallen ; hence the reason why Christ came and suffered, and ere he returns to reign God's Holy Spirit will make us holy. That God's ways are mysterious none will deny; but yet a humble, trusting Christian finds no difficulty in believing what has been revealed, and looks forward in hope to the time when our spiritual sight will be restored, and all will be made plain. The plan of redemption to him is simple. It soothes all his sorrows and drives away all his cares. The feeling that his soul reposes in a Saviour's arms, and that in His holiness he shall appear before his God, is to him greater riches than all the glory and honor of the world. Pride, the cause of the Devil's own fall, is his prin- cipal weapon, which he uses to draw 6ouls from God. There are so many varieties of pride, or, rather, Satan tempts us by it in so many different ways, that 27 we seldom know when it influences our actions. It is pride that tempts a Unitarian to call himself a Christian, when it would become him better to take some Jewish name, or, if he could, to join the Jewish Church. It would, I think be more consistent, for at baptism the Christian has three privileges conferred upon him : — 1st. He who was naturally estranged from Christ is made a member of Him, — that is, a member of that mystical body whereof Christ is the head. (Ephesians ii. 12.) 2nd. He who was natu- rally a child of wrath is now made a son of God by adoption through Christ, the Son of God by nature. (Galatians iv. 5.) 3rd. Being a son of God, he who was naturally a child of perdition is now made an heir of God and joint heir with Christ to a kingdom of glory. Now, if a Unitarian does not believe this, how can he be a Christian ? We do not take our family name because we are obedient children. We must be of the same nature, born into the same family. Then, how can we take the name of Christ without having been baptized, which alone distin- guishes us from Jews, Turks, and Infidels ? Our keeping the law does not make us Jews ; nor can a Unitarian become a Christian by leading a life more like Christ than Christians do. Nothing can make a man what he is not made by the form prescribed ; and I do not think that anything but being born a Jew can make one a Jew, nor can any one be a Christian unless baptized of water and the Spirit. Anything else is a delusion of the Evil One to entrap their souls. Nothing but divine power could have fulfilled, as Christ did, all the ancient prophecies which are contained in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. It required divine power to perform the miracles which he did. Then, again, the holiness of the doctrine which he prescribed, banishing idolatry, superstition and vice out of the world, and teaching 28 instead the knowledge and worship of the true God, the fulfilling of the law, and the practice of all manner of virtues. He showed, also, His divine power by His resurrection, for He remained on earth forty days, eating and drinking with His disciples, and appearing suddenly unto them when they neither knew " whence He came or whither He went; " His wonderful ascension into Heaven, by which He finished the fulfilment of the prophecies regarding himself which He delivered while on earth, of which His disciples, once Jews themselves, were the living witnesses. Add to this the testimony of Josephus, who says — (Book 18, chapter 3) — " that Jesus was a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for He did wonder- ful works : He taught men to receive the truth with pleasure ; He drew over to Him many of the Jews. He was Christ, and Pilate condemned Him to the cross on the 3rd April. Those that loved Him did not forsake Him,* for He appeared to them alive again the third day, April 5th, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him." You, yourselves, are a text to us. It is not an in spired man that you expect. It is God himself; and because Christ did not come with pomp and great glory, you cannot believe Him to be the Messiah. He often appeared to your fathers. They did not doubt that it was He, and their faith was much stronger than ours, for they believed in what had not then happened. Now your people find it hard to believe what has come to pass. The fearful destruction of your temple, city, and * He really should have said, " those he loved he did not forsake, for he appeared to them alive again, the third day after his cruci- fixtion, and now having finished his work of Redemption, he must and will return to finish his work of Glorification which he has begun, and when finished, man will be a perfectly Holy being, living like Christ did while on earth." 29 commonwealth by the Komans, which Christ foretold you forty years before it took place (Luke xxi. 20) ; your being scattered about upon the earth and remain- ing as you are to this day, as prophecied by Hosea in his 3rd chapter, without a king, without a high priest, and without a temple, without a sacrifice, — for you have had none since Christ came, — are living monu- ments and witnesses to the truth of these prophecies. Then see, for three hundred years after Christ's as- cension, the Holy Spirit gave the Apostles power to preach the Gospel to all nations in their own language, and to work miracles. These days are passed, but Christ still assists the humble Christian in his efforts to be good ; and no matter how often he fails, if he only turns to Him in true penitence and prayer,