has to do with the feelings and affections of the heart, and but little, or not at all, with ideas, expressions, or words. The gift of Prayer is the altar erected by the hands of man; but the grace of Prayer is the fire that descends from heaven upon it. J. R.

THOSE that are acquainted with their own hearts find it hard to get them raised to a spiritual and heavenly temper, very difficult to get them pulled up (though they have the advantage of the most powerful ordinances) to any good posture; and when with much ado they are got up, very difficult to keep them there. Alas! we seem to be forcing a weighty stone up a steep hill; when, with much toil, we have got it near the top, take but our hands off a little, leave it but to itself, and down it runs further in a moment than we can get it up in some hours. Our way to heaven lies up the hill; that which is spiritual and heavenly is above us; the natural bent and tendency of our heart is downwards: as there is no getting them up without toil and pains, so when we have raised them up but a little, leave them but to themselves-grow but a little remiss and negligent-and down they run on a sudden,-we shall quickly find them at the bottom of the hill in a carnal, lukewarm, earthly temper.-Morning Exercises.

THOUGHTS IN AFFLICTION.

O THOU my kind chastising God,
Teach me to own thy sway;
Teach me to bend beneath thy rod,
And cast my pride away.

Oh have I wish'd, presumptuous thought,
The weight of sorrow less,

Or e'er with earthly weapons fought
Against my deep distress?

Teach me, with meek submissive awe,

To own thy sovereign will,

E'en from thy rod my comforts draw,
And weep, but thank thee still.

And oh, if those once sent of thee
To soothe the bitter tear,
Now seem thy messengers to be
Of judgments more severe!

Let me thy ruling hand discern,
Thy voice of mercy know;
And from thy gentle teaching learn
To seek no bliss below.

In sorrow through this evil land

"Tis meet thine own should go,

Until by thy victorious hand
Is conquered every foe.

Then hast thou promised thou wilt come,

And at thy high behest

Earth may prepare thy saints a home,

And thou amidst them rest.

SIGNS WHICH WERE TO PRECEDE THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

VI. Luke xxi. 12, "But, before all these things, they shall lay their hands upon you, and persecute you." How fully the particulars foretold in this verse were accomplished we learn from the Roman Historian Tacitus. Tacitus writes thus: Neither Nero's exertions, nor his largesses to the people, did away the infamous imputation of having set Rome on fire. To put an end therefore to this report he laid the guilt, and inflicted the most cruel punishment, upon a set of people who were holden in abhorrence for their crimes, and called by the vulgar Christians. A vast number were apprehended, who were convicted not so much of the crime of burning Rome as of hatred to mankind. Their sufferings at the hour of execution were aggravated by insult and mockery. But the history of the

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Acts will throw the greatest light on this passage. For there we are told, that immediately after our Lord's ascension, Peter and John were called before the Jewish Senate, chap. iv. 6, 7, and beaten, verse 40; that Stephen was brought before the same court, vi. 12, and put to death, vii. 58. That Saul made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison, viii. 3, and punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them unto strange cities, xxvi. 11; that the same person put Peter in prison, intending to kill him likewise, xii. 4; that Paul, formerly himself a persecutor, but now converted, was in his turn frequently persecuted; that he and Silas were imprisoned, and beaten in the Synagogue of Philippi, xvi. 23; that he was brought before the Sanhedrim, before King Agrippa and his wife, before the Roman Governors, Gallio, Felix, and Festus, and last of all before the Emperor Nero. Besides all, which it is pretty well ascertained that all the disciples and Apostles, except St. John, met with a violent death.

VII. Matt. xxiv. 12, "Iniquity shall abound." Every part of Josephus' history of the war, is full of the horrible wickedness committed by the Jews; but in his relation of the siege, he mentions such acts of barbarity and cruelty as are shocking to human nature, insomuch that he is obliged to own they were the most wicked nation under heaven. I shall only produce one passage in which he speaks of the manners of the Jews before the war broke out. • For that time among the Jews abounded with all manner

of iniquity, so that none was left undone; yea, though one endeavoured to invent some new villany, yet could he invent none that was not then practised.'

VIII. Matt. xxiv. 14, "The Gospel shall be preached in all the world." The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy we gather from the New Testament, which informs us that the Gospel was preached by Paul in Arabia, from Jerusalem to Iconium, in Lycaonia and in Galatia, through Asia Minor, in Greece, Crete, Italy, and probably in Spain and Gaul; besides the Gospel reached much further than this Apostle carried it, for we find him writing to Christians who had never seen his face. Also we might mention Peter's Epistles to the Jews in Pontus, Asia, Cappadocia, and Bethynia. Probably the Gospel was preached in these and many other countries by the Jews who sojourned there, and who, having come up to Jerusalem to the Passover, were converted on the day of Pentecost. The Ethiopian eunuch, converted by Philip, would carry it likewise into his country. But whatever way it happened the fact is certain, that in most of these countries Churches were planted within thirty years after Christ's death, or about ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem. Hence we find the Apostle telling the Romans, x. 18, that the sound of the preachers of the Gospel had gone forth into all the world, and their word to the end of the earth. Hence, likewise, he tells the Church in Rome that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world; and the Church of Colosse, that the truth of the Gospel was come not to them only but to all the world, being preached to every creature. Hence also when Mark wrote his Gospel, the Apos