JESUS CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.

This he

ruler he said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." When on the mountain-" And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Again, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. said, signifying what death he should die." As the time approached nearer we are told, "From that time forth began Jesus to shew his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." "But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer."

From the prophetic declarations of God then, and from the repeated testimony of our Lord himself, we find that the great object of the Son of God in coming into our world was to suffer and to die. This was to be the consummation of his mission-all was to end in this; and this he seems to have had constantly before his view.

And why all this suffering, and why this death, inflicted on 66 the holy child Jesus." "Not for himself," certainly, as Daniel had predicted, was he "cut off." He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief, and "make his soul an offering for sin."

Then there was a cause a necessity for this strange and most wonderful proceeding, or God would not have permitted it. And far we need not go to seek it, for in every one of us it may be found.

"All

we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way: and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Jesus Christ, then, the holy Son of God, by becoming "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," rendered all honour to the just law of God, and purchased, at the price of his blood, redemption and righteousness for man. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe."

Ah! my young reader, when you hear of such things of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, you should pray that God may teach you to understand them, for you only can be happy as you know and feel them to be true and good.

THE TEMPEST.

ALONG the dark and foaming deep,
The fragile bark was driven;
No seaman could his standing keep,
Amid that storm from heaven.

But One was there, who calmly slept,
All reckless of the ill;

They called and He arose and spoke-
"Ye troubled waves be still."

And at that word the winds were hush'd,
The storm its fury ceased;

The billows knew their Maker's voice,
And settled down in peace.

So let me hear that gracious voice,
Thy mercy sweet reveal;

And calm the tumult of my breast,
And whisper "Peace, be still."

Newport, I. W.

H. C.

THE FIRST MARTYR.

METHINKS I see him stretch'd upon the plain,
A brothers' hand has chill'd his every vein -
His countenance a death-like aspect wears—
His body marks of fiendish violence bears;
Forth from the wound still flows the vital tide,
Before the altar, where he fell he died.

His brother, now his murderer, views the scene,
And startled sees the sanguinary stream:
With frightful gaze, he casts his eyes around-
With frightful yells, he makes the plains resound:
But Abel hears not-he in death's embrace
Lies the first victim of the human race.

Yes! Abel fell the first of human kind;
Yes! righteous Abel first left earth behind;
Relentless death his havoc here begun,
And e'er since then his dire career has run;
But he was stingless in his first essay,
For Abel rose to realms of endless day.
Methinks how eager was the angelic band,
To waft his spirit to the happy land-

-How sweet their anthems as aloft they soar'd,
With the first trophy to their gracious Lord-
Methinks what joy extatic fill'd each breast,
When Abel entered to his heavenly rest.
The first of martyrs for the cause of God,
He led the way that numbers since have trod.
O happy soul! Thy sorrows all are pass'd:

A martyr's crown adorns thy brow at last.

First of the faithful! First to win the prize! First usher'd in the palace of the skies! Newport, I. W.

A. M.

"WHAT CHEER!"

OR, THE PERSECUTED MINISTER AND THE INDIANS.

THE picture on the opposite page represents a scene which once took place on the shores of North America. That our young friends may properly understand it, I must first say a few words about something else.

And that is about one man persecuting another man, because he is not of the same religion with himself. This is not just, or right, or fair. It is very wrong, and yet it has been done very much, and is done now in some places, though not so much as it was.

Let us see how it all is. God Almighty, our Great Father, has given us all his holy book of truth, to tell us how he loves us, and what we must do to please him, and it all amounts to this-that we are to love God and one another.

But there have always been some men in the world -rulers, such as kings, and popes, and bishops, who have said, "Oh you do not understand this book. It is God's book we know, but you do not understand it, and you cannot understand it. We do: we will tell you what it means, and you must do as we tell you, and if you do not, we will send you to prison, or burn you alive."

Just as if our Great Father in heaven had not taken care to make his own book so plain that everybody might understand it. Everything he does is for the good of all-his air, and rain, and sunshine are, and so is his book. It is so plain that anybody may know what it means. If it had not been plain, we could not have believed it to be his book, for it would not have been like Him to give a book that people could not understand.

And so the people said, "Oh, give us that book! It is God's book; and we can tell what it means." But the great rulers said, "No: you shall not have