"Behold the cross! the Saviour's cross! the cross which delivered us from the condemnation of sin, and from the bondage of death! the cross of our salvation!"

This modern show is like that of Israel before the golden calf; not meant to provoke, but to honour the invisible God, their Redeemer. However well intended, it misrepresents the incomprehensible glory of "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. x. 10), no less than the molten calf misrepresented the God who redeemed Israel from the bondage of Egypt; and this idol in the modern Church, no less than that idol in the ancient Church, serves him who "was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John viii. 44).

GARNISHING THE TOMBS OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

The Churches of the Gentiles have no higher guaranty against apostasy than the Church of Jerusalem had. Moses warned Israel of their departure from the faith and worship of God, and their consequent dispersion and reproach in all lands; both which events have long since come to pass, notwithstanding the ceaseless confidence of that people in their election to subdue and govern the nations of this world, while they were being carried away captive to Babylon first, and again to Rome, in their dispersion to this day. Moses dealt very plainly with Israel, and so did all the Lord's prophets; but the people hardened their hearts. The Lord Jesus dealt very plainly with their blind guides, who sat in Moses's seat, and taught their traditions for the commandments of God. But they refused to listen, and they stirred up the multitude to cry "Crucify Him, crucify Him." Our Lord reproved them openly to their face, saying, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo

crites for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in! Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte! Fools and blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple or the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, or by the gift on the altar, he is guilty and a debtor. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith."

These words contain reproof for all time: no less for us in our times, than for the Jews in the days of the Lord's ministry. The Lord Jesus not only reproves, but threatens them, saying, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?" (Mat. xxiii. 33). Knowing that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," and being pained at heart when I hear men, young or old, saying, "The apostles did not know what they taught, but spoke as they thought, and were sometimes mistaken," I was from a child unable to see what in our days merits this terrible reproof and fearful condemnation pronounced by the lips of the Lord, "able to make thee wise unto salvation " (2 Tim. iii. 15, 16).

For though we be of the race, even "the children of them that killed the prophets," none appear to "build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.'

Truly now," If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." But how do any in this generation “garnish the sepulchres of the righteous?" The doctrine was a mystery, until led by it to consider that Jesus himself, the Prince of the prophets, innocently suffered a death more wanton and cruel than any of the prophets. Of Him, more than of any other, are men ready to say, "Had we been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in His righteous blood." Yet how do they, by garnishing His sepulchre, "witness unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets?"

All the sepulchres of the righteous together from the beginning of time have not been so lavishly garnished, as that of Jesus, by the image everywhere set up in gold, and precious stones, in marble, brass, and wood, for a memorial of Christ's death upon the cross! "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets." Many delight to display, and to decorate with honour and with love, and even worship, an image of the barbarous instrument on which the Son of God poured out His life's blood at the hands of ambitious and envious murderers. Ye adorn your persons, your walls, your churches, and your banners with the sign of that wood on which the Son of man was "lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John iii. 15). Ye delight in every shining form to glorify the wood on which, after His scourging, and having drunk the vinegar and the gall, Jesus Christ our Lord gave up the ghost! Ye fashion it in flowers to adorn the font and the

table, and to grace the coffin of the departed! Ye form it in gilt to embellish the churches; in marble to decorate the tomb; in jet, diamonds, and pearl to beautify the person, and in colours and embroidery for proud banners of sects and nations! In every form of display the images are multiplied and elevated before all eyes, from the cradle to the grave." Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which crucified the Lord Jesus."

These are words easy to read, and hard to digest; but no more so than the words of our Lord in person, addressed to the scribes and Pharisees and the doctors of the law of all nations and generations. Probably the writer and the reader have no more idea of deserving this reproof, and of fearing the condemnation threatened, than the scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem of old had. The Lord bless our reflection, that you may escape the just condemnation pronounced against the serpents and vipers of both the old and of this dispensation.

FANCY PICTURES AND IMAGES IN HOLY PLACES.

In this age of illustrated news, of pictorial history, and of illuminated works of every kind, all eyes are fascinated with exhibitions of the artist's sketches and the engraver's skill. Reading requires time and mind; but a picture can be seen at a glance, and its plain import perceived at once. If well executed, it pleases even a weary soul. The buyer is gratified, and the seller is rewarded. Thus the Bibles and Prayer-books are in some editions illuminated with images and pretended likenesses of the Lord our Saviour, and of the apostles and the prophets, for the gratification of the eyes; whereby they who count it idolatrous to ornament with pictures and images the churches "we pray in," find them in the Sacred Volume and Prayer-book which they de

voutly read and "pray from." The wise know that these likenesses are fancy sketches of the artist, transferred to the page by the skill of the engraver and printer. The multitude and the children, however, are not wise in these matters. They search the Bible for truth; they use the Prayer-book in sincerity of heart. They imbibe the idea that there is honesty in the likenesses, as in the language of the Sacred Volume. Their own sincerity does not permit them to suspect the want of it within the covers of the Holy Book. The wise also know that Christmas and saints' days are appointed of men for glorifying God in the name of Christ and of the apostles and martyrs. But with the young and with the multitude it is otherwise. They commemorate the anniversaries as realities, set forth and delivered to them as such. The harm comes when, in riper years, they find these are inventions among their holy things, weakening their confidence, if not shaking their faith, with regard to the eternal verities of our religion. Discovering imposition in some of their holy services, they become distrustful of holy teachings, not knowing what to believe. It becomes us therefore to say, with the Psalmist, "I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way" (Ps. cxix. 128).

YOUTHFUL PIETY SYSTEMATICALLY RESULTING IN AVOWED

INFIDELITY.

Protestants have something to fear under this head, while it explains a well-known and a wonderful state of things among Roman Catholics, whose children and early youth are often the loveliest specimens of sincere piety, innocence, and devotion. But the parents and elders, to a fearful extent, having in riper years discovered the impositions and delusions practised upon their youth, cast off religious fear and personal restraints, and rule their life on principles of