to die. Yet the patient husbandman has often seen it sprout up at an hour when he least expected it, and bear fruit beyond his fondest hopes. Many a time has the man of fourscore, whose heart has been chastened by this world's experience, turned for inspiration to hymns learned at his mother's knee, and though not repeated for fifty years they have come to him as dearest friends, and performed an office not to be attempted by the sublimest poetry when not attended with such holy associations.

I conclude with stating the condition of success. Everything is conditional. The corn will not grow without the sun and rain,— spiritual life will not grow without culture, our success will not be sure unless, our lives illustrate our teachings. Does a work appear among us? We are anxious to know its author. Does it inculcate the sublimest virtues? We thirst to know if its author was sublimely virtuous. So has the Christian world turned from the words of Christ to his life, from what he said to what he did, and his words are so touching and beautiful because they have been breathed upon by his life. In like manner will it be with ourselves. Our pupils will hear of us in the street and the market-place, at home and abroad, and according to what they hear, according as our lives agree or disagree with our teachings, will they regard us as true men or hypocrites. I do not say, be virtuous for example's sake; but do not attempt to teach virtue with your lips, unless you can illustrate it with your lives.

F. H. G.

EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW XII. 43-45.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return unto my house, whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself,-and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

THE Jews believed that evil spirits entered into the bodies of men, spoke and acted with their organs, and produced certain bodily and mental derangements.

When the external appearances which were supposed to be produced by these causes were unusually aggravated, the subject of them was said to be possessed by "seven devils;" the definite number "seven" being used in Scripture in an indefinite sense, equivalent to "several,” or "many," in our language.

When these outward symptoms ceased, the evil spirit was said to have gone out of a man.

It was moreover a notion of the Jews, that when an evil spirit had left a body, it wandered about in "dry," i. e. lonely places, at a distance from human habitation, till it entered into another.

It is still a question among interpreters, whether these supposed demoniacal possessions were real, or whether the phenomena thus accounted for were effects of natural causes.

These opinions or these facts our Lord uses, in the passage before us, as the material of a parable, the moral of which will be presently explained.

To those who believe in the reality of demoniacal possession, nothing more need be said in explanation of the circumstances of the parable.

Those who think that Jesus merely availed himself of a popular opinion for the purpose of illustration, without intending to imply any thing respecting either its truth or falsehood, understand him to speak thus-It is a familiar fact, that a relapse is often worse than the original disease. When insanity, or any of those maladies which you are accustomed to ascribe to the agency of evil spirits, has temporarily ceased, but a predisposition to the disease still remains, (the house is swept and in order, ready to receive its occupant back again,) it often returns with sevenfold violence, and the last state of the sufferer is worse than the first. So would it be with this wicked generation. If I should comply with their demand to give them a sign from heaven, such as they profess would be sufficient to make them believe in me, it might perhaps produce a temporary effect upon them, but their predisposition to deny my divine mission and to oppose the truth I teach would remain; they would soon relapse into unbelief and hostility toward me, and their guilt would be increased by resistance to more powerful means of conviction.

C. P.

MARY STUART.

FAIR scion of a hundred kings!
The shades of ages fled

O'er thy sad tale new glory throw,
A deeper pathos shed;
The beauty of the martyr-queen
Beams on us from afar,

As through the clouds of eventide
Shines forth the vesper star.

We see thee court the breath of spring,
Hang o'er the missal mute,
Invoke thy muse, the needle ply,

And touch the plaintive lute;
As violets twined about a rose
Congenial sweetness lend,
Thy nymphs attendant we behold
Beside their royal friend.

We tremble for thee on the deep,

With joy the mist descry,

That rose around thee when the fleet

Of thy base foe was nigh;

With tears we trace the path of wo

By thee so nobly trod,

And glory in thy fearless truth

And holy trust in God.

The thistle of thy native land

An emblem is of thee,

Its fragrant down set round with thorns

And rifled by the bee;

Though sometimes greeted by the dew,

Or zephyrs flitting past,

How oft it lies beneath the snow,

Or shivers in the blast!

Ere thy young sense had caught the charm

Of heather's wild perfume,

Or breezes from thy natal hills

Had taught thy cheek to bloom,

They bore thee from thy rugged realm,

Beyond the stormy tide,

To learn the lily's courtly mien

And catch her graceful pride.

When France had taught thy lips to smile
And warmed thy heart to love,
The eagles of a northern clime
Recalled their exiled dove;
Was it a presage of despair

Thy parting footsteps staid,

And filled thine eyes with gushing tears

To leave a convent's shade?

Came o'er thy undimmed spirit then
The thought of faithless smiles,
Love unrepaid, a throne usurped,
A haughty rival's wiles?
Dawned then upon thy buoyant soul
All it was doomed to feel-

The dungeon's gloom, the exile's sigh,
The murderer's cruel steel?

O couldst thou then have known the grief Time had for thee in store,

And to the weeping sisterhood

Turned lovingly once more! How soon a captive was the queen,

A weeping wife the bride,

The sweetest flower of royalty
A spirit sanctified!

Her few but humble servitors

Knelt round the fated queen, Watching with awe her gentle air, Calm smile and brow serene; With trembling hands and streaming eyes They filled the goblets up,

And pledged their mistress once again

In a last and parting cup.

Then hushing yet once more their sobs,

They bowed in silence there,

And felt their heavy hearts grow strong
As rose her dying prayer;

With fervent sweetness that dear voice
Its final wishes breathed,

As o'er the land the misty shroud
Of her last morning wreathed.

Is that wan cheek the same that glowed
On thy first bridal day,

When hope evoked her gayest lures,
And France her best array ?

Is that the same bright eye that sought
The land thou sighed to flee,

When its green shore grew dim and far
Upon the lonely sea?

Is that the same fair hand that hailed
The chiefs of dauntless mood,
Who welcomed with triumphant shout
Their queen to Holyrood?

Is that the form that sat so firm

Upon the prancing steed,

And moved with such a winsome grace,

The mazy dance to lead?

How pale her brow! how faint her smile!
How sad her eye's soft ray!

And oh, those lovely auburn locks
Are thickly strewn with gray!
But the strong mind, the noble heart,
The quick and earnest love
Aspire, with all her beauty's youth,

For their blest home above.

THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES.

H. T. T.

We rejoice in the progress of a spirit of scientific inquiry as applied to subjects of Christian theology; for we are persuaded that as Christianity abhors a credulous assent, its great truths will come forth with fresh lustre from the trial,-with new and stronger claims to the reverence of mankind.

Recently the miracles of Christianity have received a large share of scientific attention. The inquiry into their reality and nature has excited and still occupies the attention of the theological public. And justly; for miracles constitute an important branch of the evidences