tion and without the slightest compunction or alarm, speak of yourself as not a Christian ?" "Yes," she answered; "I am sorry for it; but so it is." I again endeavoured to arouse her to a sense of her condition, to make her feel how terrible was her state according to her own confession, and to induce an earnest seeking after Christ. All my attempts, however, failed to produce more than an assent to the truth of my remarks. She seemed to understand her condition, and all its consequences; but, at the same time, to regard it as her calamity or lot, and not her fault or crime, and to be unable to admit the slightest idea of her duty or power to endeavour to deliver or help herself. At length, finding all my efforts fruitless, with a heavy heart I took my leave. All the way home, the words, "We who are not Christians," rang in my ears. They haunted me every moment. In the society of my family, and in the retirement of my study, I was sensible only of these words"We who are not Christians." Again and again during the night, I awoke with these words on my lips-"We who are not Christians." Deep settled grief took possession of my mind, that one so intelligent and interesting should be able thus calmly to speak of herself as not a Christian. My grief drove me to my knees. I felt impelled to pray; that I could do nothing else; but that pray I must. I scarcely knew how to cease praying to God to rouse her from her apathy, and to make her feel that which she so readily confessed. My prayer was followed by a letter, telling her of my prayers for her, expressing my deep concern, appealing directly to her heart and conscience, and urging her by every considerationpresent and future-to cast herself

upon Christ, so that she may never again say, "We who are not Christians." It is unnecessary to add that earnest supplication to God for His blessing accompanied that letter.

After a few days, she told my wife that she was very grateful for my letter, and wonld be glad at any time to see me. It was not long before I called at her house; but the presence of friends prevented any conversation on the allimportant subject. Circumstances prevented my calling again immediately. A short time afterwards, she sent her servant to tell me that her little boy, her only child-to whose birth I have referred-was dangerously ill, and to request me to call upon her. I readily obeyed the summons. I found the mother in a very weak state, watching and nursing her sick child. I did little

more at that time than pray with her, and point out to her Jesus as her only helper. her only helper. On a subsequent visit, I found the child better, but the mother confined to her bed in a very critical condition. In the course of a deeply interesting conversation, she suddenly burst forth into prayer, and for several minutes continued in a strain of holy fervour and sublime eloquence. I gazed on her with amazement. The calmness and joy of her soul pervaded every feature, and her countenance resembled that with which imaginationis wont to invest the blissful inhabitants of heaven. Such rapture, such beauty, such thorough child-like trust as that prayer evinced, I had never before witnessed. It far exceeded all that I ever conceived during the time of revival in America and Ireland. It seemed the breathing of a soul under the full inspiration of the Spirit of God. When she had concluded, I said, "My dear friend, how is this? What does

this mean? You never spoke in this way before. Whence this change?" "THIS!" she exclaimed, taking from under the bed-clothes the letter I had sent a few weeks previously-" THIS is the cause, under God's blessing, of it all. shall never, till my last hour, cease to thank God for this letter. I hope never again to say, "We who are not Christians;" but trust that from this time my dear husband and myself will be the sincere disciples of Jesus." In the conversation which followed, it was delightful to note the simplicity of her trust in and her complete realization of a living Saviour as present and close by her side. Truly this, I felt, is the work of God; and my heart was lifted up to Him in praise and gratitude. Absence from home prevented me from seeing her again for several weeks. In the meantime, God removed her sickness, and on our next meeting, she was convalescent. Her simple trust in Jesus still remained, and was to her a source of unspeakable joy. Eventually, she was united to the Church under my care, of which she is at the present time an honourable member.

This paper will very probably be read by many persons who are in a similar condition to that of this lady when she said, "We who are not Christians." There are very many members of Christian families who esteem their minister and take an interest in Christian associations, but who are not Christians-who know they are not Christians, and would say that they are not, and that with calmness and sceming unconcern, and who have never thoughtfully contemplated their position,

or realized its fearful consequences. For such readers, this paper is expressly written, that for one moment the naked fact may

stand fairly before them. Is this thy case, reader? Is it true that thou canst own that thou art not a Christian ?-i. e.. that thou art in thy sins alienated from God, shut out from heaven, a child of Satan, an heir of hell-and yet be unmoved, and regard thyself with composure and complacency? Canst thou, now that the matter is thus plainly presented to thy mind, continue thus to act and speak? Awakened to consider and realize thy fearful state, wilt thou not, like our friend, seek and find Christ, and, with Christ, joy?

This narrative illustrates the happy results of direct prayer and effort for the conversion of a soul to Christ. This lady had been a member of my congregation, and an attentive hearer of the word for years. I had frequently conversed with her on religious subjects; but up to this time she had been content to live without Christ. She knew she was not a Christian, and was unconcerned. The first special prayer for her soul is heard and answered by God. The first direct personal effort is carried home to her heart by the Spirit of God. One letter, accompanied by prayer to God, is made by God to effect that which the faithful ministry of years, and numerous efforts of a general character, having relation to her, in common only with others, had failed to effect. It may be said that her severe illness, and that of her child, formed important elements in her conversion, without which the direct prayer and effort had not had so favourable an issue. The manner in which the letter was received would indicate the contrary; but, if not, the question fairly arises, whether the sicknesses may not have been appointed by God as the medium through which He would work

out an

answer to the prayer, and manifest His approbation of the means employed. At any rate, this incident furnishes encouragement to the minister of Christ to seek more directly the salvation of his hearers, who may have long attended in vain on his ministry; or, indeed, to any Christian to make personal and special effort, accompanied with earnest prayer to God, for the immediate conversion of any relative, friend, or acquaintance. Such efforts are eminently calculated to arrest and lead to thoughtfulness the party towards whom they are directed. They invest the matter with more im

portance, and command closer attention. They evince an interest in the party's welfare, which pleases and thus prepares the mind to consider them, and that favourably. At the same time, such efforts are especially acceptable to God, and are sure to have His blessing. Let our readers try-let them try sincerely and heartily-and in the blessed results of their efforts, they will experience a joy, which can only be equalled by that which was theirs when they first realized Christ their Saviour; and which must be felt in order to be understood.

To understand this passage aright, let us inquire whether it has any connection with Noah's drunkenness and the conduct of his sons, as reported in the 22nd and 23rd verses. It is generally supposed that the degradation of the descendants of Ham is the result of an angry father's curse; and it has often been asked whether it was just in Noah, or righteous in God, to doom a race to slavery for the sin of its founder. We feel that none of us, could our curse carry with it the power to realize itself, would consign the remote descendants of a son to ignoble and hard servitude for an offence committed against us. And we cannot think that, if a father so far forgot natural affection as to desire for the seed of his son abject and wretched bond

age, God would gratify his wish, and inflict the curse. The question therefore arises, does the history teach what is usually ascribed to it? From the 18th to the 29th verses of this 9th chapter in Genesis, we have a narrative of what transpired within 350 years. This exceeding brevity leaves much unexplained, and is the merest abstract of that which really took place. It contains a record of four incidents. First, we have the fact that the earth was peopled by Shem, Ham, and Japhet; next we are told that Noah planted a vineyard, and was made drunk by the wine which he obtained from it: thirdly, the curse and the blessing which Noah pronounced, are reported; and lastly, the death of the patriarch is recorded. The inquiry now must be,

did Noah's drunkenness and Noah's prophecy occur on the same day? Are the two things so linked together as to be one event? If it be urged that they are so united by the copulative "and," I should answer, the same copulative connects all four incidents together, which, as we have seen, were spread over a period of 350 years. So far as the narrative is concerned, the prediction is as intimately associated with Noah's death as with his drunkenness. In each case it is connected with the context by the same conjunction. When I begin to reflect upon the subject, I find that when Isaac felt that he must soon die, he pronounced the prophetic blessing. In like manner, Jacob, "when he was a dying," blessed the sons of Joseph, and pronounced the destiny of the twelve tribes. Analogy suggests that the prediction by Noah should also be connected with his death. If so, we must dismiss from our minds all thoughts of what took place at the time of Noah's drunkenness, and regard the prophecy as we do the prophecy of Jacob. Such a view of the passage destroys nearly all the objections that have been urged to it, and removes almost every difficulty out of the path of the expositor. I need not add that a prophet had no power over his own prophecy. The words of Balaam represent the state of the prophet's mind, and the irresistible character of the prophectic impulse-"If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the

Lord

my God, to do less or more." Noah was a prophet; and, as a prophet, speaking by inspiration, under the power and by the constraint of the Holy Spirit, he said, "Cursed be Canaan," &c. In these words we have, not Noah's wish,

but a simple prediction of the future. I advance another step, and reach the fact, that the prophecy does not so much as contain (by a logical necessity) what God desires. He willeth not the death of a sinner; it is not His wish that any should perish. When incarnate, he predicted the doom of Jerusalem, but he also said, "O that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace!" A prophecy, when it relates to futurity, is not necessarily more than a declaration of what will happen: it may be, as with the curse foretold, against the desire of God; or, it may be, as with the blessing pronounced, by the Divine appointment. God did not wish that Jerusalem should be destroyed: He did wish that Cyrus should deliver the Jews from their captivity. Bearing these remarks in mind, we shall soon discover that Noah's prophecy is no hindrance, but a great help to our faith. It has been fulfilled. The children of Ham (several versions read Ham, the father of Canaan) have been cursed, and have become "servants of servants." The dreadful destruction of the Canaanites, and the enslavement of Africans, are striking confirmations of the truth of this scripture. God has blessed Shem. În his seed-in the long line of Hebrew prophets, and especially in Christ Jesus, who was a son of Abraham and a descendant of Shem-all nations of the earth are blessed. Japhet has been enlarged, and his descendants have, according to the prophecy, gone forth to dwell in the tents of Shem. Let the reader study attentively the fact that Shem is represented by the eastern nations, of which the Hebrew was one; Ham by the southern nations, such as those situated in Africa; and Japhet by the

northern nations, such as the Gauls or Germans, and the peoples north of the Caspian Sea; and then let him compare the history of these nations with the prophecy of Noah.

The result will be, increased faith in the trustworthiness of these ancient narratives, and renewed confidence in the historical truthfulness of the Pentateuch.

IF our Master and Lord had delivered his closing discourses on a death-bed; if, instead of going out into the night to be betrayed and by wicked hands crucified and slain, He had died a natural death, produced by disease, in the midst of his weeping disciples, that death would still have been an atonement for the sins of the world. Or, if it be conceded that, in order to the fullest realization of the idea of sacrifice for remission of sins, a violent death was necessary, the penalty of human transgression would still have been borne by him, if that pure body which was the Temple of God had been dashed to pieces on the crags of Nazareth, or crushed by the stones once and again gathered for the purpose in the streets of Jerusalem. But Divine Providence, even the will of the Father, which He delighted to fulfil, and to have fulfilled in Him, ordained that He should suffer by a death which occurred to no other, save only to the transgressors with whom he was numbered, in the whole range of Scripture history.

That a peculiar significance attaches to the mode of the decease accomplished at Jerusalem may be naturally expected, and this expectation will be heightened by the following considerations.

The prophecies, wherein "it was

written that Christ should suffer," plainly hint at this manner of death. The typical sufferings of prophets, psalmists, and of the chosen nation, under which they uttered plaintive lamentations which foreshadowed the sorrows of the Messiah, exhibit the spectacle of One enduring a lingering death in the company of others, and exposed to the taunts of enemies. ("He hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with transgressors;" "Dogs have compassed me; They look and stare upon me;" They that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying, He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him: let Him deliver him, seeing He delighted in him.") Besides the outward circumstances, the actual sufferings of crucifixion are depicted. The scourging, the divestiture of clothing, the emaciation, the feverish thirst, the dislocation of joints, are all referred to ("With his stripes. we are healed;" "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture;" "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint:" My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws." "I may tell all my bones:" "My throat "My throat is dried,