"The trees of the Lord are full of sap."-Psalm civ. 16. WHO is there that admires not trees? 'those grandest children of the earth.' Beautiful they are at all seasons. Yes; either when spreading out their bare limbs against the cold moonlight sky, or when just bursting into bud, or when in their rich foliage

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we can lie under the green depth of shade in the summer's day, and listen to the insect throng that hum and dance amid the leaves above us.

An early tree is a general favorite; weary of the long bleak stormy winter, we are delighted at any sign of approaching spring. Hence too we so prize the commonest flowers, the daisy, golden cup, and primrose. They seem to assure us that "the rain is over and gone, the time of the singing of birds is coming, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

There is a noble Sycamore in my neighbourhood, which on this account I regard with peculiar interest. It gives me a month of spring in advance; for even while March winds are rough, and heavy showers, and biting frosts make us feel that winter has not yet quite left us, every twig of this tree is tipt with a green bud, and long before its timid brethren venture to put forth a blossom, this first-born of the wood attracts attention by its summer appearance.

'Vain falls heaven's dew on them,
Adown each leafless stem,

Trickling in idle runnels to the ground;

Whilst, O good steward, thou

Dost from thy full leaf throw

The glitt'ring gems in joyous showers around.'

A friend once remarked that this tree was like a believer in the midst of worldlings; and ever since it has been invested with a degree of sacredness, and furnished me on my homeward walk with some reflections-Thus a family has been brought up together; they are all as it were planted in the same soil, and have the same advantages and trials. They attend

the same ministry, and kneel together at the same household worship; yet one, perhaps only one, will be seen to differ from the rest, and shewing signs of a divine life, while the others remain apparently dead in spiritual things. They too hope some day to be green, to be as the righteous and glorified with the saints, but they will not and do not make an open profession now. They are afraid, slothful, self-indulgent; they shrink from the cross of the world's ridicule or opposition, and if some good man is faithful and personally speaks to them of making a stand and giving themselves at once to the Lord, they admit the truth of the advice, but with a sigh must decline at least at present, and thus put off the happiness of their souls to some more convenient season which may, alas! never arrive. They cannot ever look further than the things which are seen; this present world is their object and guide. Hence they think not of the privilege of being in favor with God and of walking with him, but of what the world will say and think; how they shall be talked of among their friends, and how they shall be quizzed at market, or in company. Perhaps they will declare that as for cards, or hunting, or dances, and such like, it would be no sacrifice to give them up, for they care nothing for them; but yet if they did so they would be marked men, and would most likely affront some person with whom it is prudent to keep in. Thus the "fear of man bringeth a snare ;" and, after a very trifling debate with themselves, they become more confirmed in carelessness, and more insensible to better impressions than before. Not so the heart effectually called and quickened by Divine grace, like the early

tree, being "full of sap," it comes out and perseveres amid all the trials, difficulties, and hindrances that meet the first profession of religion; such an one does not regard these buffetings which, like the hail showers, keep back the faithless and timid. He anticipates heaven; by faith he looks to that brighter period when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise in his glorious strength, and all things shall be new, therefore he hopes to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto him at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Having at first encountered the cold, and stood awhile alone, he now has the comfort of finding less difficulty in maintaining his profession. The weather each day becomes warmer, and soon others take courage and join his society, put forth leaves like himself, and adorn the doctrine. In blessed communion and fellowship they rejoice together in the light of God's countenance; experience a calm season of peace, during which they flourish and bring forth fruit, and are eminent in grace and usefulness to others even amidst the infirmities of old age.

'Thus then from branch, and leaf, and shade, O Tree, Thou dost put emblems forth, preach faith, hope, charity.

TRE

FULFILMENT OF PROPHESY.

No. II.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

IN a former paper I pointed out in a general outline the sufferings of the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem; it is now my intention to shew how all these things

in minute detail fell out agreeably to the predictions of our Lord Jesus Christ, as contained in the gospels.

I. We will turn then, first of all, to the fact as we find it in three different Evangelists, Matth. xxiv. 1, Mark xiii. 1, Luke xxi. 5, where, the disciples admiring the temple-its goodly stones and preciou's gifts-our Lord takes occasion to tell them the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy is both matter of fact as well as matter of history. The fact of Jerusalem now in ruins, or at least standing an insignificant place, speaks for itself; but the manner in which it was destroyed we find in Josephus, book vii. 9-Titus having held a council of his generals, who were for burning the temple, declared that he would by all means save that edifice as an ornament to the empire; but one greater than Titus had declared that it should be destroyed; accordingly the soldiers burnt it without paying the least regard to his orders. In book vii. 6, he says, That part of the city in which the temple stood was taken first; when one of the soldiers, moved by a divine impulse, caught some burning materials, and mounting the shoulder of his companion, thrust the fire in at one of the windows. The fire spreading itself was observed by Titus, who cried to the soldiers to extinguish it, but they neither regarded his voice nor the beckoning of his hand: God had determined to destroy this temple, and therefore the counsels and designs even of Titus himself— the instrument of this destruction-availed nothing to preserve it.

The Jewish Talmud Taanith, chap. 4, tells us that