difficult questions. The manager-general was the village schoolmaster. The subordinates were selected from the first class of boys, and the first class of girls. There was no singing, and very little, if any, prayer. The time was taken up with a little reading, a little spelling, repeating of collects and catechism. Good order was extremely rare. But corporal punishment in some of its severest forms, was of frequent occurrence. The great lessons of morality, and the greater lessons of religion, were seldom, and then very inefficiently inculcated. Children no better instructed, as might be expected, did not, when out of school, reflect much credit either on themselves, their parents, or their teachers. The boys especially, not only sadly forgot the sanctity of the Lord's-day, but before, between, and after hours of school, they sometimes committed fearful depredations. But it happened one bright, calm, beautiful, Sabbath morning in summer, that two of the boys belonging to the school, a little before school time, wandered! beyond the village, near a field of turnips: being tempted, they looked, hesitated, looked again, then yielded! they entered the field, broke the Sabbath, and took that which belonged to another. Hitherto there had been no interruption. But just at this moment, when each had a turnip in his hand, and was preparing to eat it, the knife of the eldest boy slipped from the turnip, and entering the top of one of his fingers on his left hand, passed on by the bone as far as the first joint, which caused the blood to flow profusely. The boys left the scene of Sabbath breaking, theft, and misfortune, and returned to the village, the still bleeding finger exciting the sympathy of the gazers on, the boy was taken into a house, and means used to staunch the blood, which was soon done, and the finger bound up. The excitement over, a feeling of faintness came over the wounded boy, but soon recovering, he and his companion returned home, instead of going to school, as they intended when they left home. The finger did well and soon healed, but the mark was there, a protuberance of the cut part. It is still, and will always remain. And often reminds the God-fearing man of the sin of his youth. "Keep the

Sabbath-day holy, but if tempted to break the Sabbath, think of the Sabbath breaker's mark."

R. BRICKWOOD.

VARIETIES.

POLYCARP.

When Polycarp, an ancient bishop of the church at Smyrna, was brought to the tribunal, the proconsul asked him, if he was Polycarp, to which he assented. The proconsul then began to exhort him, saying, "Have pity on thine own great age: swear by the fortune of Cæsar: repent; say, take away the atheists:" meaning the Christians. Polycarp, casting his eyes solemnly over the multitude, waving his hand to them, and looking up to heaven, said, "Take away these atheists," meaning the idolaters around him. The proconsul still urging him, and saying, "Swear, and I will release thee: reproach Christ." Polycarp said, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He hath never wronged me, and how can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me." "I have wild beasts," said the proconsul," and will expose you to them, unless you repent." "Call them," said the martyr. "I will tame your Spirit by fire," said the Roman. "You threaten me," said Polycarp, "with the fire which burns only for a moment; but are yourself ignorant of the fire of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly." Soon after, being about to be put to death, he exclaimed, "O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ! O God of all Principalities, and of all Creation! I bless thee that thou hast counted me worthy of this day and this hour to receive my portion in the number of the martyrs in the cup of Christ. I praise Thee for all these things. I bless thee. I glorify thee, by the eternal high Priest Jesus Christ thy well beloved Son, through whom and with whom in the Holy Spirit, be glory to Thee, both now and for ever, Amen!"

Reader, art thou partaker of like precious faith?

AUGUSTINE.

Augustine being asked which is the first step to Heaven, he replied, "Humility!" And which is the second step? He answered, "Humility!" And which is the third step! He again replied, "Humility!" True humility arises from faith in Christ: it is one of those retired and modest graces which best suits a state of dependence and obligation; there is no surer test of deep Piety, and it contributes largely to the happiness of the Christian.

REV. JAMES HERVEY.

Mr. Hervey, being in company with a person who was paying him some compliments on account of his writings replied, laying his hands on his breast, "O sir, you would not strike the sparks of applause, if you knew how much tinder I have within.

AN OLD MAN.

A good old man was once in company with a gentleman who occasionally introduced into conversation the words "devil, deuce," etc., and who at last took the name of God in vain, "Stop, sir," said the old man, "I said nothing while you only used freedoms with the name of your own master, but, I insist upon it, that you shall use no freedoms with the name of mine."

GALILEE.

The northern division of Palestine; sixty miles long. thirty broad. Travellers say it is still a very rich and beautiful country, though not so well cultivated as in former times. Look on the map for its boundaries. You will see that it has Mount Lebanon on the north; Samaria on the south; the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and the ' Sea of Galilee and the Jordan on the east. The upper portion of Galilee was called "Galilee of the nations", (Isa. ix. 1: Matt. iv. 15), because its inhabitants were less Jewish than in any other part of Palestine.

We will explain how it came to be so. In the reign of Pekah, king of Israel, the king of Assyria carried its inhabitants into captivity. Then the Assyrians sent many

foreigners to occupy the country instead, 2 Kings xv. 29. When Cyrus permitted the captives to return, most of them settled in Judæa. Some, however, went to Galilee, and mixed with the Gentiles who had been transplanted there. In time, a mixed race grew up, speaking a corrupted sort of Syriac (the language spoken by the Jews), in a broad, provincial tone, or in a countrified way, as we should call it. This mixed race was regarded with contempt and dislike by the Jews in Judæa. This explains John i. 46, vii. 52; Acts ii. 7; Mark xiv. 70; Matt. xxvi. 73.

This was the district most honoured with Christ's presence. He resided here till He was thirty years of age. Here He began to teach; and here He called his first disciples, Matt. ii. 22; iv. 18-23; Mark i. 39; Luke iv. 44; viii. 1 ; xxiii. 5; John vii. 1. You will find it interesting to search for all the incidents connected with the principal towns of Galilee: Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Nain, Ptolemais. Cæsarea Philippi was the principal city of Upper Galilee. Dan was the northernmost, as Beersheba was southernmost, of all the towns in Palestine.

The Galileans were a rebellious, restless people, easily excited against the Roman authority, Luke xiii. 1,) seemed to imply a readiness to catch at something like a proof against Jesus, arising from the suspicion of sedition which was always attached to a Galilean. Oh, mark how complete was the Saviour's humiliation!

NAZARETH,

In Galilee, south of Cana; is situate partly in a lovely valley, and partly on the hill-side. If you were to visit this little town, the people would show you a hill, which they say is the one mentioned in Luke iv. 29. They would also show you several other places of importance : a fine church built on the spot where the angel appeared to Mary (Luke i. 31); on the south side of the town, another church, to mark where the synagogue stood (Luke iv. 16); the house inhabited by Joseph; and the well from which Mary drank!

Are we to believe that these localities are what the people say they are? There is no evidence on which we can depend. The well may be the same as that from which the Virgin Mary drew water, but there is no probability about the other places.

Christ was called a Nazarene from his residence in this town. The term soon became one of contempt, Acts xxiv. 5. As Galilee was a despised part of Palestine, so Nazareth was a despised part of Galilee. Its inhabitants were held in little consideration by other Galileans; and, of course, much less so by the Jews who dwelt in Judæa, John i. 46.

JUDEA.

By this name we are sometimes to understand the whole land of Israel, west of Jordan. More commonly the name describes the southern division of Palestine, bounded on the north by Samaria, South by Arabia, west by the Mediterranean, and east by the Dead Sea.

When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldees, and the Jews carried captive to Babylon, the Idumeans seized upon the south-western district of Judæa. Afterwards they embraced the Jewish religion, and were united with the Jews. Still their district continued to be called Idumea, as you will find in Mark iii. 8.

The more important places of Judæa mentioned in the Bible are, Jerusalem, Jericho, Gilgal, Engedi, Carmel, Zoar, Gibeah, Gibeon, Ramah, Nob, Emmaus, Mizpah, '| Bethpage, Bethany, Bethlehem, Hebron, Beersheba, Goshen, Cæsarea, Lydda, Joppa.

THE WAY TO BE HAPPY.

Every one wants to be happy. Let us try and find out. how happiness is gained.

A little Girl has just come out of old Jane Gurney's mud cottage. She knew that old Jane was very weak and very poor, so she has been taking her some broth, and other good things, bought with her own money, and she has given them with many a kind word; and see how happy she looks!