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accomplished-"Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men.'

JERUSALEM.

The character of the City within corresponds with that of the country without. Most of it is very solitary and silent; Echo answers to your horse's tread; frequent waste-places, among which the Wild Dog prowls, convey an indescribable impression of desolation, and it is not only these waste places that give such an air of loneliness to the City, but many of the streets themselves, dark, dull, and mournful looking, seem as if the Templars, armed tread were the last to which they had resounded. The Bazaars and places of business are confined to one small quarter of the City; everywhere else you generally find yourself alone. No one is even there to point out your way, and you come unexpectedly upon the Pool of Bethesda, or wander among the vaulted ruins of the Hospitallers, Courts, without knowing it.

The remains of the ancient City that meet your eye, are singularly few; here and there a column is let into the wall, or you find that the massive and uneven pavement is of costly marble; but, except the pools of Hezekiah and Bethesda, the Tower of Hippicus, and some few other remains preserved on account of their utility, there is little of art to assist the memory of the past.

The chief place in Jerusalem is the Holy Sepulchre, whose site I believe to be as real, as the panorama that the priests have gathered round it must needs be false; you descend by a narrow lave and flight of steps into a small enclosure, where a guard of Turkish soldiers is stationed to keep peace among the Christians. After paying tribute to this infidel police, you enter into a large circular hall, supported by a colonnade of eighteen pillars and surrounded by a large dome, in the centre of which is a pavillion containing the Holy Sepulchre. The whole of this church has been so frequently described that I shall only mention that near its walls are condensed an array of all the events incidental to the crucifixion-the place where Christ was scourged-the hole in the rock where the Cross stood, the fissure, where the Rock was rent in twain, the place where the soldiers cast lots for the garments, the place where he was crowned with thorns, the stone whereon the body was anointed, and lastly, the grave wherein it was laid.

According to monkish topography, Calvary was only a few yards from the Sepulchre, which itself is so altered and adorned as entirely to destroy every appearance of reality. Neither from research nor personal observation have I any right to offer an opinion on the subject-but I incline to believe that this is the site of the Sepulchre; and I see no great reason to deny that Calvary (never mentioned as a hill in the sacred writings,) might have occupied a neighboring locality. Although within the present enclosure of the city walls, it perhaps might also have been outside the ancient circuit which is necessary to its identity. Tradition must have been more idle than is her wont, if she permitted such a site to be forgotten. The actual spot occupied by the cross appears entirely devoid of proof, but it seems evident that the place assigned to it, within a dozen yards of the Sepulchre, is the least likely of all.

THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY.

"The chapel of the Nativity is a subterranean grotto, into which you descend through the darkness that gives way to the softened light of silver lamps suspended from the roof. Notwithstanding the improbability of this being the actual place of the Nativity, one cannot with indifference behold a spot that during eighteen hundred years has led so many pilgrims in rags or armor from their distant homes. Even supposing the tradition to be true, it is impossible to recognize any reality through the mean disguise of tawdry ornaments.

THE TOMB OF LAZARUS.

Speaking of his travels through the Holy Land, the Rev. Charles P. Wilbraham, B. A. Vicar of Audley, Stafford Shire, and alluding more particularly to the town of Bethany and the Tomb of Lazarus, says :

A cave is shown where it is said that Christ restored Lazarus to life; nor do I think it improbable, for it is very close to the village. We descended with tapers down several steps into a gloomy vault, undoubtedly a receptacle for dead bodies. The Scripture expression, that "Jesus eried with a loud voice, "Lazaras come forth !" seems to countenance the idea that the Sepulchre was deep. At any rate when I entered the Tomb I felt persuaded that it was the real scene of that miracle.

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.

Along the valley which separates Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, flows the brook Cedron. This in, most seasons, is merely the dry bed of a stream. On its bank is the Garden of Gethsemane, which it is impossible to visit without awe, as the scene of the mysterious agony of our Lord. This place is so accurately defined by the Evangelist as to defy all doubts. It is now a small grove of Olives, as it probably was then, for the name, Gethsemane, signifies "the valley of Oil." Eight Olive trees of extreme antiquity still grow there, and it appears from competent authorities that these very trees may have existed in the days of our Saviour; but this must be very doubtful. Their knotted trunks betoken, however, a very great age, and we may with much probability suppose them to be grown from roots as ancient as the hour of agony.

St. John. xviii,-1st verse.--St. Matthew says: "Then cometh Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane.,' Here then it was that Christ was betrayed and made a prisoner; and hence he was led to condemnation and death, along a street now called Via Dolorosa, or the road of Sorrows.

THE INSECT WORLD.-Professor Agassiz says that more than a life time would be necessary to enumerate the various species of insects and describe their appearances. Meiger, a German, collected and described six hundred species of flies, which he collected in a district of ten miles' circumference. There have been collected in Europe twenty thousand species of insects preying on wheat. In Berlin two professors are engaged in collecting, observing and describing insects and their habits, and already they have published five large volumes upon the insects which attack forest trees.

LITTLE WILLIE TAKEN UP.

SOME have thought that in the dawning,

In our being's freshest glow,

God is nearer little children

Than their parents ever know;

And that if you listen sharply,

Better things than you can teach,
And a sort of mystic wisdom,

Trickles through their careless speech.

How it is I cannot answer-
But I know a little child,
Who, among the thyme and clover,
And the bees, was running wild;
And he came one summer evening,
With his ringlets o'er his eyes,
And his hat was torn in pieces,
Chasing bees and butterflies.

"Now I'll go to bed, dear mother,
For I'm very tired of play!"
And he said his "Now I lay me"
In a kind and careless way;
And he drank the cooling water
From his little silver cup,

And said, gaily, "When it's morning,
Will the angels take me up?"

Down he sank with roguish laughter,
In his little trundle bed,

And the kindly god of slumber

Showered poppies o'er his head.

"What could mean his speaking strangely?"

Asked his musing mother then"O, 'twas nothing but his prattle; What can he of angels ken?"

There he lies, how sweet and placid!
And his breathing comes and goes

Like a zephyr moving softly,

And bis cheek is like a rose;
But she leaned her ear to listen

If his breathing could be heard-
"O," she murmured, "if the angels
Took my darling at his word ?"

Night within its folded mantle
Hath the sleepers both beguiled,
And within its soft embraces

Rest the mother and the child.
Up she starteth from her dreaming,
For a sound that struck her ear-
And it comes from little Willie,
Lying on his trundle near.

Up she springeth for it strikes
Upon her tronbled ear again,
And his breath in louder fetches,
Travels from his lungs in pain ;
And his eyes are fixing upward

On some face beyond the room;

And the blackness of the spoiler

From his cheek hath chased the bloom.

GRANDMOTHERS.

BY THE EDITOR.

Now give ear to our words, and listen to our speech, all ye young and old, while we speak of the generations which were before us. Shall we forget those who nursed our fathers and mothers? Shall we not kindly remember those who brought us many blessings while they lived, and leave us still more as they depart?

Only two grandmothers are mentioned in the Bible, one in the Old Testament, (1 Kings xv: 10.) Maachah, grandmother of Asa, who "did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord." The word, however, in this passage is rendered in the English Bible, mother; though it is plain from the connected history that she was his grandmother. Though she had a pious grandson, she herself, sad to say, in her old age, fell from her faith! "She made an idol in a grove, and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kedron."

The other grandmother is a New Testament character, Lois, mother of Eunice and grandmother of Timothy. The meaning of her name is "better," and truly, of her better things are said. St. Paul, writing with joy to her grandson, says: "I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that is in thee also, (ii. Tim.: I. 5.) Eunice was a Jewess, though married to a Greek. The grandmother was no doubt also of the Jewish faith. They resided at Dystra, a city of Lycaonia; and they all early became converts to the Christian faith. "As is the mother so is the daughter," is a sacred proverb, by which we may anticipate the pious character of this grandmother. She called her daughter, Eunice-that is, "good victory"-dedicating her, even in her name, to that kind of pious life by which alone the good victory can be obtained. We are made acquainted with the high religious cultivation found in the family of Eunice, by St. Paul, when he say to Timothy: "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make the, wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." She who could so well instruct her son, must herself have been well instructed. Accordingly St. Paul, tracing the faith of Timothy, goes back not only to his mother, but to his grandmother.

That grandmothers are so seldom mentioned in the scriptures is agreeable to their position and character. Their lives are retired and quiet. The days of their prominence and activity are past. Their children are already the centres of other families, and they either reside quietly alone, or are the retiring inmates of one of their children's family. The world, out-door life flows by them; and both their own feelings and general circumstances determine that they shall no longer be prominent actors in its cares and concerns. Hence it is not strange that they should be little noticed in history. But their lives may be none the less useful for being quiet. We think of the silently falling dew, and we call to mind

that, in general, the powers which work great and important changes, and set in motion the beginning of vast influences, are silent. The silently working leaven is the symbol of the renovating life of christianity. Moreover the silent influences of family life, in whose deep retirement grandmothers are found, is the nursery of all that is great and good.

Let not the quietness and seeming unimportance of a grandmother's life be undervalued. Stilling says the presence of such an aged, pious member, brings blessings on the whole family in which she resides. We need not doubt this. God loves the aged with a peculiar tenderness, as we may see from His many touching promises to them. "Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you; I have made and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.' Then think of the many prayers which go up to God from these aged believing hearts, uttered by trembling but confiding lips! Will they not be heard? and will not God be nearer to a family in which such long-tried and trusting piety is found?

Yes, a true blessing is a pious grandmother in a family. She is a priestess there in the inner circle; and daily, perhaps hourly, yea, may be "without ceasing," does she offer prayers and intercesssions, those spiritual sacrifices well-pleasing to God, and which will cause Him to remember the family for good. Thus amid the bustle and stir of the family, the earnest cares and constant activities of the remainder of the family, and the ceasless noise of the outer world, grandmother keeps up a kind of a perpetual worship-quiet is she to the eyes of others, but never still before God.

Nor is this all the good she does. She is the counsellor, not only of the grand-children, but of the parents themselves. Not only an instructor in morals, but also in domestic economy; for both of which she is qualified as possessing the rich treasures of a long experience. She can turn a truer and better moral than is found at the end of any novel. She can give receipts as good as any found in the books. She knows the virtues of herbs, and can direct their use for the ailments of any member of the family. Though she told her daughter much when she was still at home, she could not tell her all she knows; and of what she did communicate, all has not been remembered. Well for her that she has so good a book of reference near her.

Is she of no use? Put away that wicked thought! Neither poultice or tea is made for soreness or sickness unless she is consulted. She can tell the herb-and how much-and how made-and how applied. This blessing, like all others, is not thought of, because it is always at hand; but, verily, verily, I say unto you, when she is gone, she will be missed in many ways that now you cannot imagine.

Let the children speak. Can grandmother be dispensed with? To whom then would the little ones run with their little sorrows when mother is too busy with household duties to hear griefs and to wipe tears. On whose knee would they get? Whose spectacles would they pull off and put on their own noses-and then laugh wild, looking over them in order to see at all? Whose knitting would they tangle? Who would always have some almonds, apples, nuts, cakes or candies in the drawer, with which to set things right in times particularly troublesome?-Who would

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