And they who bring a heart with guilt
And deep contrition sear'd,
With knee and spirit bending low,
To wait till they be heard:

Sure I have read that these are they,
And others are there none,

For whom their Saviour and their God
The palm of glory won-

And these are they the Father chose,
With fond and gracious love,
For whom salvation is proclaim'd
By angel hosts above.

And shall I then despise the mark
That proves me heir of bliss;
I know I'm his because I pray,
And pray because I'm his.

-And there was One on earth I ween

Had little need to pray,

And all that was, was his to give,

Lord of a boundless sway.

He pray'd not with intent to change
His Father's high decree;
Nor had he need to ask in prayer
The thing he meant should be.

Yet Jesus pray'd, and earth receiv'd
Her Maker's bended knee,
Gethsemane resounds the cry,

The groan of agony.

First tell me why a suppliant's breath

Pour'd from a Spirit divine,
And I will tell thee why I ask

A bliss I trust is mine.

My humbled spirit is content

To know that I am bid;

Nor dares to ask why I should need

To do what Jesus did.

And whilst I rest in tranquil hope

To share my Saviour's bliss,
Know that if e'er I cease to pray
I'll cease to think me his.'

REV. H. A. SIMCOE, Penheale-Press, Cornwall.

"He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."-Philipp. ii. 8.

It will not be uninteresting at this season, and as a meditation for this day, (commonly called Good Friday,) which, in agreement with the very long established custom of the universal Church of Christ, our Church has set apart as a day of fasting and humiliation, to consider some of the circumstances which relate to that awful and mysterious event which so deeply concerns us all-the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The horrible and infamous death by crucifixion, or nailing to the cross, appears to have been driven from the world by the prevailing power of the religion of him who was content to subject himself to it for his people's salvation: for, being a Roman punishment, when the Roman Emperors received Christianity it appears to have been forbidden by their authority, out of a due respect and pious honour to the death of Christ.

The manner of this death was, as seen in the engraving, by applying the body of the criminal, being lifted up, to the straight and erected piece of wood which is fixed in the earth; it was then fastened by four nails, one piercing each hand stretched out on the cross-beam, and one driven through each foot resting on the piece of wood which served as a support for the weight of the body; while an inscription containing the cause for which he was thus punished was commonly placed over the head.

Two things are most observable in this death,1st. Its Painfulness. 2nd. Its Disgracefulness.--The hands and feet-the most nervous, and therefore of all parts of the body the most sensible of pain, being pierced through with nails caused the most exquisite torture; whilst being at the same time most distant from any vital part the death was as slow and lingering as it was painful, so that sufferers commonly lingered for many hours, sometimes for days, in that exposed and dreadful condition.*

As this death was most painfult so was it counted most shameful. It was a high crime amongst the

* The bodies were commonly left to rot on the crosses to which they were affixed, to complete the disgrace of the death; (as when with us criminals are hanged in chains;) it was only at the request of the Jews, that the high Paschal Sabbath might not be polluted, and the law of Moses, Deut. xxi. 12, be kept, that the legs of the criminals were broken to hasten their death, in order to their removal.

+ So common and so painful was this manner of death considered by the Romans, that the very words which they used to express pain and torment, cruciare and cruciatus, were taken from this crux---the cross. From the same reason whatever is painful and difficult we call ' a cross.'

Romans to put a free-citizen to this death, and was only inflicted upon slaves and the worst of malefactors, so that it was called in their language, servile supplicium, 'a slave's death.'

Such the nature of that death, to become obedient to which the Lord of Glory took upon him our nature, "made a curse for us." O that our holy hatred, our righteous indignation against sin-the true infamy, the real shame of our nature-may be stirred up with true humiliation, and sorrowful repentance, as we look on that cross in its shamefulness: and as we behold that cross in its torment, make it our aim, with the same mind that was in him that hung there, that sin in our members may be crucified, however painful to flesh and blood that daily dying of the old man may be that we too may go forth bearing his cross, "despising its shame," for his sake and in his name who shrunk not from this day's agony and bloody sweat' for our salvation.

FULFILMENT OF PROPHESY.

No. I.

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

THE fulfilment of Prophesy being a subject which is calculated under God to strengthen the faith of the believer, inasmuch as it assures him of the immutability of God's word, I purpose in the following papers to write a few plain words to plain persons on the fulfilment of the Prophesies contained in the Gospels, relating to the destruction of Jerusalem. Before,