Oh, I don't like to hear that," cried Emma; I wanted to think that a man who did so much good altogether, was perfect himself."

"Perfect!" repeated Mr. Morton, gravely; "how could you expect that, Emma; only One perfect character has ever appeared on earth: but the more we try to resemble that character, the happier and better we shall be."

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“And a child can try that, Papa!" said Emma, softly.

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The weakest and poorest child, my love," replied Mr. Morton, Then, as he dismissed his children with an affectionate kiss, he said, 'And now you must be glad you looked over the prints, your aunt so kindly lent you, since they have led you to learn something about Luther."

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

FAMILIARLY EXPLAINED TO YOUNG SUNDAY SCHOLARS,

BY CATHARINE M. A. COUPER.

MY DEAR CHILDREN,-You all of you know this prayer, which has been called the Lord's Prayer, because it was taught by our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples, when they asked him to teach them to pray. It was meant as a model or pattern for all his disciples in aftertimes. This prayer is, I am afraid, often said without the real meaning of it being thought of; it is learnt by heart, as it is called; a bad term, for it is often the case that what is so learnt is said by the lips, when the heart is thinking of something else. It will be well, then, for us now to take each part of it separately, and to find out the real meaning.

“Our Father, who art in Heaven.”

I trust that most of you have an earthly father living, one who loves you, who works hard to support you, and who tries to make you happy; but no earthly father, however willing, knows always what is right, and he of himself could do nothing for you, if he were not supported and sustained by that Father in heaven to whom we all look up. He only is perfectly wise, therefore He knows what is right; perfectly powerful, therefore He can do everything; and perfectly good, therefore He does everything that is kindest and best for us.

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Hallowed be Thy name."

How many forget or neglect this! Many, I fear, who not unfre quently say this prayer (they cannot rightly feel it) and yet often in

the day take the holy name of God upon their lips, in wishing ill to those creatures whom God has made, and whom He loves. You must yourselves, I am afraid, have often heard the name of God unhallowed, used in an unholy way. The name of God is made

holy to us by our always using it with reverence.

"Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

The kingdom of God can come on earth only when His will is done by all, for then only will it be fit for His spirit, then only Would He love to reign here. It is a mockery to pray that the will of God may be done, and yet for each of us to go on doing our own will when that is wrong. If we were each of us always to do the will of God to the best of our power, the earth would soon be the kingdom of God, would soon be as fit for his residence as heaven is now, for wherever the will of God is perfectly performed, there is heaven.

'Give us each day our daily bread."

Our Lord, in another place, tells us not to be too anxious about what we shall eat, or with what we shall be clothed, but by teaching his disciples to pray in this manner, he proves that he does not think it wrong to think in moderation about our means of living. In this case, too, how foolish it would be to pray to God to give us our daily bread, and then to sit down without trying to earn it, as if we expected that it would be sent down to us as the manna was in old times to the children of Israel in the desert. Whilst we pray to God to give us our daily bread, we must use all the means he has bestowed upon us to obtain it for ourselves, remembering also that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us."

Why is it that the forgiveness by God of our sins is made dependent upon our readiness to forgive others the sins they have committed against us? How could we desire to be forgiven if we still cherished in our hearts anger against our brother? How unlike that spirit of love which can alone be one with the spirit of God; how opposed to that peace which He sends into the hearts of those who truly love Him, and by which they know they are forgiven, is the feeling of anger and resentment against those who have offended us. That soul must be thoroughly free from revengeful feelings which hopes to be the dwelling place of the pure and holy spirit of our Father in heaven, that spirit which looks down in tender compassion upon His weak and erring children, who are striving to reach to

greater purity and fitness to be the abode of the heavenly guest. Cherish love, then, to your brothers here on earth, if you seek to be truly the children of your Father in heaven.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

When we willingly go into the way of temptation to evil, we cannot say God leads us there; it is never His will that we should go into temptation and fall by it into sin. If a man who is a drunkard prays in the morning that God will not lead him into temptation, and in the evening goes into the alehouse, he is putting himself in the way of the temptation he is, of all others, the most likely to yield to, and in all probability he will yield, but he cannot say that God led him into temptation. The prayer might have been answered had he particularly avoided the temptation, and by his own strong resistance he would have helped to "deliver" himself "from evil," and would have made the temptation less powerful the next time. What are temptations to some are not so to others; it would be a great temptation to a starving man to pass a baker's cart when no one was near, and to think that one loaf, which would hardly be missed, would save him from starving. Many a one has been so tempted, and many a one, I am glad to say, has resisted, by remembering that his Father in heaven is always near, and that His eye would see when no other eye could. To one who is always well fed, this would be no temptation. The right way of making this prayer answered is to avoid all temptations which we are not likely to be able to resist, and to endeavour to resist all that come to us in the course of our daily life. Then shall we be "delivered from evil.”

"For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever."

This world and all its beauties will pass away; the kings who reign here will die, and their possessions will pass into other hands; some of them whilst still living may lose their power; the false glory of war and the conqueror will vanish; riches, learning, so much thought of now, will ere long be as if they had never been :-but the glory of our God is from everlasting to everlasting, His power is without limit, His throne is established, and His kingdom shall know no end. Yet is this glorious God our Father! He neglects none of His little ones, the youngest child just able to lisp His name is as dear to Him as the learned philosopher who investigates His grandest works; the life of the poorest beggar is as precious in His eyes as that of the proudest monarch on his throne. Draw near, then, to his footstool, for He will hear the humblest prayer!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

PART 1.

THE sun had not yet risen above the hills of Gadara, and the mist was still sleeping on the lake, when two men might be seen issuing from the gate of Bethsaida, and taking their way southward along the track that lay at a little distance from the shore. The scene was as tranquil and silent as when we looked upon it on the evening of yesterday. Then it was the stillness of a world sinking to its reposet Now it was the stillness of a world not yet awakened from its sleep. The dewy freshness of the morning air-the deep calm around-the purple light that heralded the coming day, and which now showed the summits of the opposite mountains in clear relief against the sky, all seemed in unison with the feelings and the objects of our two travellers, as they strode cheerily along their way. They did not break the silence around them by conversation. It breathed its fresh, pure, calm spirit over their souls, and they drank in its beauty silently-without feeling prompted to say "How beautiful"! Indeed the thoughts of one of them were more upon the object before them, than on the scene around them. He looked forward, almost with impatience, to the goal of their journey, and as on the mountain yesterday, his thoughts were on the inner world, though his eye seemed to rest on the outer one. They were bound to the desert of the Lower Jordan, and the purpose of their journey was to find the prophet-if indeed he were a prophet-of whom their friend on the preceding evening had given them so singular a description. If he should indeed prove to be what they hoped-what their friend believed indeed, he seemed ready to believe anything concerning him how much they would have to hear, how much they might ask him, what difficulties-difficulties which had so often perplexed and troubled them they might seek an answer to ;-what pleasant converse they might hope to have with him: what sympathy would he give to all their regrets and sorrow over the present state of religious feeling and belief among their nation :-how they would light their lamps anew at his warmer flame, and go back with him to dwell upon the days of Israel's glory, when the voice of GOD was heard among the dwellings of his people, and the fire was burning bright, warm and pure, upon the altar of His holy temple..

Such were the thoughts of Philip, as the travellers pursued their way along the shore of that calma lake, and approached the little town of Magdala. They did not pause here, but made their way through the town, and went on, upon the track that led towards

Tiberias. As they proceeded southwards the shores of the lake became steeper, and the mountains rose more abruptly from its blue waters. Sometimes they passed through vineyards, which were generally upon terraces cut one above the other, on the hill sides, and supported with walls of stone. The vines, however, were now bare the last harvest, which is usually gathered in October, being already past; and the dry leaves, brown and withered, seemed only waiting for the first rude blast to tear them from their stems, and scatter them whithersoever it listed.

Among these vineyards were often to be seen flocks of goats, browsing on the withered foliage; for these animals are allowed freely to enter the vineyards when the last harvest is over, to feed on the decayed leaves, of which they are said to be extremely fond. Where there were not vines, these mountain terraces were sown with corn, and the young blades were now shooting from the brown soil, under the encouragement of a few showers which had already fallen, and given promise of the coming winter rains. When these rains fell they would soon alter the aspect of the country, and the present dry, brown, bare appearance of the landscape, would be changed for the fresh verdure which in these countries seems always ready to spring up luxuriantly from the earth, whenever that one thing needful-water-comes to bless and raise to life again the vegetable creation. They passed in succession through the town of Tiberias, and the villages of Hammath, and Tarichæa, and after a walk of about twelve miles came to that part of the lake where the mountains begin to turn off to the westward and to open upon the plain, or rather, perhaps, as we should call it—the valley of the Jordan. Here a wide extent of country opened out before them, which in another month or two would be covered with luxuriant herbage, among which large herds of cattle, goats, sheep, and asses, would then be seen, feeding, and roaming about where they would, apparently as free as the wild antelopes of the wilderness. I say apparently, for with every herd there would be a herdsman, and with every flock a shepherd, who with his dog by his side, and his staff in his hand, would be watching from his station among the trees, or couched among the long grass, over the safety of the animals entrusted to his charge. however, there were few animals of any kind to be seen. They were chiefly near the river bank, or high up among the neighbouring mountains, or by the side of some of the stagnant pools yet left in the course of many of the mountain torrents, which during the winter and spring swept down from the hills on either side, and discharged their turbid waters into the Jordan. The country had altogether a lonely and neglected look, as if man dwelt not there, and as if it

Now,