is molten out of the stone." The most remarkable use of it by the Israelites after their exodus out of Egypt was the erection of the brazen serpent, typical of the death of Christ and the efficacy of his sacrifice. Israel had achieved a glorious victory over the Canaanites; they then journeyed round the land of Edom, and were much discouraged because of the roughness of the way. They murmured at the food God had given them, though they had bread enough and to spare, therefore the Lord sent among them fiery serpents, which bit them, and many in consequence died. Moses, at the express command of Jehovah, set up a brazen serpent to afford relief to the bitten Israelites, who, when they looked, were healed. This method of cure was miraculous, but God can bring about his purposes by contrary means. There was much of Gospel in this appointment. Christ himself says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Well, dear children, there is a great resemblance between the disease of the Israelites and ours; they were bitten by fiery serpents, we by that old serpent the devil. Also between

their remedy and ours: God devised and prescribed the remedy for the Israelites, and our salvation by Christ was also wrought out by him. Moses lifted up the serpent for the cure of the Israelites; so Christ has been and is lifted up for the cure of fallen humanity. Children,

"Stung by the scorpion, sin,

My poor expiring soul
The balmy sound drinks in,

And is at once made whole.

See there, my Lord, upon the tree;

I hear, I feel he died for me."

A. E. PORTNALL.

THE DEATH OF HOWARD,

EARLY in the morning of the 20th, came to see him his most intimate friend, Admiral Priestman-a Russianized Englishman in the service of the Empress. During his sojourn at Cherson, Howard had been in the habit of almost daily intercourse with his gallant ex-countryman. When taken ill, not himself considering it at first serious, no notice of it had been sent out; but not seeing his friend for several days, Priestman began to feel uneasy, and went off to his lodgings to learn the cause. He found Howard sitting at a small stove in his bed-room-the winter was excessively severe-and very weak and low. The Admiral thought him merely labouring under a temporary depression of spirits, and by lively, rattling conversation endeavoured to rouse him from his torpidity. But Howard was fully conscious that death was nigh. He knew now that he was not to die in Egypt; and, in spite of his friend's cheerfulness, his mind still reverted to the solemn thought of his approaching end. Priestman told him not to give way to such gloomy fancies, and they would soon leave him. "Priestman," said Howard, in his mild and serious voice, "you style this a dull conversation, and endeavour to divert my mind from dwelling on the thought of death; but I entertain very different sentiments. Death has no terrors for me; it is an event I always look to with cheerfulness, if not with pleasure; and be assured, the subject is more grateful to me than any other." And then he went on to say-"I am well aware that I have but a short time to live; my mode of life has rendered it impossible that I should get rid of this fever. If I had lived as you do, eating heartily of animal food and drinking wine, I might, perhaps, by altering my diet, have been able to subdue it. But how can such a man as I am lower his diet, who has been accustomed for years to live upon vegetables and water, a little bread and a little tea? I have no method

of lowering my nourishment, and therefore I must die;" and then turning to his friend, added, smiling-"It is only such jolly fellows as you, Priestman, who get over these fevers." This melancholy pleasantry was more than the gallant sailor could bear; he turned away to conceal his emotion: his heart was full, and he remained silent, whilst Howard, with no despondency in his tone, but with a calm and settled serenity of manner, as if the death-pangs were already past, went on to speak of his end, and of his wishes as to his funeral. "There is a spot," said he, "near the village of Dauphiney-this would suit me nicely; you know it well, for I have often said that I should like to be buried there; and let me beg of you, as you value your old friend, not to suffer any pomp to be used at my funeral; nor let any monument nor monumental inscription whatsoever be made to mark where I am laid; but lay me quietly in the earth, and place a sun-dial over my grave, and let me be forgotten."

SAVED BY A DREAM.

A TRUE STORY.

"In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." -Job xxxiii. 15-18.

NEAR Elberfeldt, in Germany, there lived two Christian men, very intimate, one of whom had a worldly wife. The husband was taken ill, and on his death-bed drew a promise from his friend that he would visit his wife, pray for her, and lose no opportunity of recommending to her the grace of God as revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

This the friend readily engaged to do; and upon the husband's death, which happened shortly after, he visited the widow, and as long as her grief lasted, his visits and the truth he advanced were well received. Time passed on, but as the wound began to heal, his visits became more and more irksome to the lady, until at last she plainly told him that unless he would speak of something more pleasant, he might as well stay away altogether. Hurt, but not offended, he discontinued his visits, but not his prayers. After a while, however, he forgot her entirely. Two years had rolled by, when awaking suddenly in the night, he felt unhappy and depressed; and among other things, he thought of his friend, and then of the wife, and with much sorrow of heart he prayed the Lord that his sin of negligence in forgetting to pray for her, and allowing himself to be hindered from carrying out his promise, might not be the cause of a precious soul being lost. He rose early in the morning, and though he had eight miles to walk, by six o'clock he was at the chateau where the widow resided. He rang the bell.

The servant looked strangely at him and went away. a few moments she returned.

In

"You can see Madame; she has been longing to see you. She is dying!"

He went up, and to his surprise and happiness, found her full of joy and peace in believing. She stretched out her hand to him and said:

"Ah, sir! I have found a Saviour just such as I need."

He begged her to repeat, if she were able, the circumstances of her conversion. She said she felt able. The night before, when she fell asleep, she was much disturbed, and had the following dream :

A carriage, she thought, drove up to the house; the footman jumped down, threw open the door, and told her that she was invited to the wedding of the king's son; but she must be very quick in dressing, as he could not wait. She

Her servant

ran to her wardrobe to find her best dress, but directly she put it over her head, it fell around her in dust and ashes. A second, and a third, met the same fate. The footman cried out: "Make haste, or we must go." jumped into the carriage, the door slammed, and as she heard the wheels roll away, she sank on her bed in an agony of mortified shame. How long she lay she knew not, but she was roused by a voice whispering in her ear:

"There is no robe that will cover you but the robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ."

She awoke and found it a dream; but though the vision was gone, the reality of her solemn position as having to do with the living God, was fully before her. She cried to him, and before the day dawned had found salvation through the blood of a crucified Saviour. This was her story. A few hours after she departed to be with Christ.

ENIGMA XIV.

That place of which Nathanael asked,
"Can aught that's good proceed?"
(He thought on its transgressions past,
But there dwelt truth indeed;
For in that town of Galilee,

Sojourn'd our blessed Lord),

And Philip answered, "Come and see;"
He follow'd at the word.

Where dwelt the Nethinims* of old,

Near to Jehovah's shrine,

The temple worship to uphold,
By off'ring songs divine?
Upon the tuneful harp and lute

They chaunt the solemn lay;
The tribes in adoration mute,

Their sacred homage pay.

*Ophel, a wall and tower of Jerusalem, which seems to have been near the temple, and is rendered a stronghold, (Micah iv. 8.) After the captivity, the Nethinims, that they might be near their temple service, dwelt at Ophel.-Brown's Scripture Dictionary.