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if there are not jewels won for Immanuel's crown this summer from my precious class. Jehovah Jesus work."

"Sabbath, 6th May.-A teacher was absent in Ballynahinch Sabbath school. I was sent to teach her class. It was a happy hour. One of the girls seemed deeply awakened and anxious. She wept very much. I went out for a walk with her. She sobbed and wept all the time. May she really find peace in Jesus. All the glory to himself! I am nothingness and sin."

sweet verse to think of, Jesus and his betrothed. Many burdens press her down. Many sins almost overcome her, cares and tears. But Jesus says, ' Cast thy burden on me, my love, my dove. Cast thy burden on me; I will sustain thee, I will bear it for thee. Cling close to my breast, but thy burden shall rest on me.' I am so strong as to be able to be more among my class. It is a high privilege. I have some happy times among them."

After this she was not able to teach much in the Sabbath school, going only now and again, when she found herself stronger than usual. Not long since, I met three of her scholars for an hour or two, and asked them to tell me some of the lessons which Miss Lizzie had taught them. They did so, sometimes one speaking, and sometimes another. Perhaps it may be in

"14th July.-During the last fortnight I have been happier than usual. I have sometimes thought, surely my Jesus is indeed my dearest One. Often in my thoughts have I called him my Darling, my Lover, my Husband, my princely Lord, my king Jesus. I have not so often used these sweet names in prayer, lest I might be wrong; but in my thoughts I take full liberty.teresting just to write down some of the things which But, ah, I do many things very unlike loving him as my dearest. It is ever my petition and my request that I may have burning, fullest love to Jesus. Many are his love tokens to me. He loves his child, and condescends to call her his sister, his spouse, his love. I am betrothed to Jesus, and I shall be married to him in heavenly glory for ever. Oh come, my Lord, and take my warmest love; let no one have the place in my heart thou shouldst have."

"25th September.-My birth-day; aged nineteen. My time is flying quickly. Oh that I was living it more for Jesus, doing more for him! I would like to live long in a short time. As some one says, 'I would like to be old in hours, though young in years.' I bless thee, my Lord, that before this thou hast made me thine. Thou didst woo me long ago, not for anything that was in me. Thou didst woo me, and I gave thee my hand. My dear Jesus, I am linked to thee. Oh, may I be faithful. Thou art the same Saviour as thou werf in the days of M'Cheyne, or Hewitson, or A. Newton. Oh, make me holy; fill me, for I am empty. Give me fullest, burning love to thyself.

"Sometimes I would forget some of the persons I should remember daily in prayer. I will write them, that I may not forget any of them."

they said, giving, as far as possible, their own words, and paying as little attention to order as they did. It may give some additional idea of her teaching.

"We read very often in the Song of Solomon, and in the second half of Isaiah, and sometimes in Jeremiah. In the New Testament, we read a great deal in the Gospels. We went through Ephesians. We read very often the last two chapters in Revelation, and the seventh, and some of the other chapters."

"I suppose Miss Lizzie talked much about the love of Jesus?"

"She talked of little else but of his love to us, and that we should love him, and serve him, and ask him to make us as holy and useful as it was possible for us to be. She told us to keep no secrets from Jesus, but to tell him everything. She told us never to lie down at night without confessing our sins, and casting them upon Jesus, and being sure that they were all forgiven. Also that before we lay down we were to thank him for the mercies of the day. And in the morning we were to thank him for the mercies of the night, and ask him to guide our thoughts and words and actions and tempers, and not to work for ourselves, but for Jesus. And she said that even when we were not doing any public work for Jesus, but might be nursing children, or work

On the 16th October 1869 she wrote to her fellow- ing in the fields, or in the house, to do all these little teacher :

"I agree with you,-it is walking with Jesus that shows him forth best to others. A holy life speaks for Jesus. Walking near to him, we get into a close intimacy and acquaintance with him. Our affections twine more and more round him. We learn of his heart, look down into it, and then can tell to others what we have discovered.

"Another of my class has showed signs of anxiety, but only sometimes she has peace as yet. To Jesus alone be the glory. I am crying for a shower. I am looking for it, and long to see it. Our precious classes must be won for Jesus. He bids us 'cast our burden on him, and he will sustain us.' Our precious classes are part of our burden we would cast on Jesus. It is a

things for Jesus, because he wanted us, and this would
be working for him. And that if we got an apple or an
orange for ourselves, and knew some sick person who
needed it more than we did, we should give it to him
for Jesus' sake, and that would be giving to Jesus."
"What were some of the texts of Scripture which she
quoted most frequently?"

"For the unconverted she quoted, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest! Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out! Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.' And she often told us that 'Jesus was able to save unto the uttermost. One of her favourite passages was the Forty-third of Isaiah, the first three verses."

"What more do you remember that she told you?" "She wanted us to try and be humble-to humble ourselves before Jesus. We were to try and have as many stars in Jesus' crown as possible. We were to try and not have a starless crown in heaven. She told us, no matter in what company we were, not to be long with them without bringing in something about Jesus, and to ask a blessing afterwards on what we had said. Yes, and if we were in any place where no blessing was asked, we were to ask one privately ourselves. She told us if we wanted anything, however small, to ask Jesus for it; and if we lost anything, and could not find it, to ask him about it. She said that at one time she lost sixpence, and could not find it, and that she prayed to Jesus about it, and then searched in a place where she had looked before, and found it.

"She said she did not think it was right to sing love songs and many other songs. There might be no harm in Anna Lyle,' or 'Prairie Flower,' or such little school songs; but for her part, she would rather sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; and she often repeated that verse in Ephesians: 'Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

"What hymns did she seem to like best?"

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Sweet Hour of Prayer. Rest for the Weary. Rock of Ages. My Redeemer, O what Beauty. A Day's March Nearer Home. She said she often sang that in the evening. It was a beautiful evening hymn.

"She told us not to go to dancings, for we could not ask Jesus to be with us. She told us that at our work we could be speaking to Jesus, and that we should lift up our hearts to him no matter in what work we were engaged. Once she made us write down all the names we found in the Bible to describe Jesus; and if we could not write, we were to repeat them. She told us if we thought we should do anything for Jesus, to do it at once, and not delay. She said, when we asked anything we should expect to get it, for Jesus had said, 'Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. When you ask anything, then, she said, just take him at his word, and expect it. She sometimes said, 'Will I have to stand and see any of you on the left hand when the rest of us are going to be with Jesus?' And then some of the class would begin to cry."

"Did they often cry?"

"Very often. And we were to pray that the whole class might be for Jesus, and might meet in heaven. One day, when Mr. B the superintendent) read

out,

'My whole dear class for Jesus,

Who did so much for me,'

she burst out crying.

"And she told us what we were to do when we grew up

to be young women; but it would not do to tell those things."

"Why, was it about getting married?" "Yes."

"Was it that you were to marry no one who was not a Christian?"

"Yes. She said young people when they grew up generally got married; but we were never to marry any one except we were sure he was a Christian and loved Jesus. And she told us to remember that verse in Corinthians: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Come out from among them, and be ye separate.”

I asked if they had been at all anxious about their souls before they came to her class. All said, No. They seem to be truly in Christ, and seeking to serve him. May the Lord bless them all, and make them followers of their teacher in as far as she followed Christ, and may they dwell in the house of the Lord for ever!

In her note-book are the following entries :—

“Sabbath, 2nd January 1870.—At home to-day. My heart is sad within me, and has been for some time. Everything seems dreary. It appears as if my Saviour had hid his face. I have not joy in communion with him. Sinful thoughts rise up-my heart goes after vanity. I do not see Jesus working in my class as I used to see him. My sighs are many, and my heart is faint. I cannot pray. Often would I pour out my heart in floods of tears, when I remember I cannot do even this; but must check them if possible, my head gets so ill. I can do little but sigh, and my heart cries, Oh that it were with me as in days gone by! Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. My heart is not drawn after Jesus as it should. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? Come over the mountains of my provocations, O my Saviour. I know they are exceeding high."

"14th February.-My heart has been made glad this morning. A ray of sunshine has appeared. Jesus is again working in my precious class. He is not gone for ever, but is showing himself again. One of my class (AJ) appeared to be really concerned She told me she wanted to come to Jesus, and that she had resolved at the beginning of the new year never to rest till she could say, 'Jesus is mine,' and that she would rather than all the world she could do so. May Jesus carry on the work, which I would humbly believe he has begun; and to his name alone be all the glory."

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Palestine.

BY THE REV. ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., F.R.S.E., EDINBURGH.

XVII.-ON THE LEBANON.

S we were leaving Banias early on the morning of April 15th, to enter on our journey through the Lebanon, a large company of pilgrims passed us, on their way to some Wely, or prophet's tomb. They were a motley multitude of both sexes, with a considerable mixture of children; and were dressed in every variety of Eastern costume, some of them looking most amusingly grotesque. The amount of religion in these pilgrimages, which are by no means uncommon in the East to this day, is of an almost inappreciable quantity. A few mystic ceremonies that have long since lost all the significance they ever had, are performed around the sacred spot, and eating and drinking, singing and dancing, and sometimes also mimic sword combats, occupy the greater part of their time; and the chances are not small that some of the worst features of heathen revels shall show themselves ere the pilgrimage is ended.

As we looked up on the grand old monarchmountain, clad in that mantle of snow which has rested on its shoulders since the Deluge, and shining in the dazzling morning light, we could see the propriety of those other names by which it is known in the earlier Scriptures-"Shirion" and "Shenir," both meaning "the breastplate;" for how like is that glistening front of snow to the polished armour of a giant. And if we suppose Sion, "the upheaved," to be either another name for Hermon itself, or for one of the lesser peaks that surround it, then that passage in Psalm cxxxiii., which has perplexed so many commentators, becomes all clear and beautiful,"As the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Sion." The hot vapours ascending from the base of the mountain would be condensed as they rose near to the snowy region on its summit, and would descend in copious dews upon the lower hills, covering them with a rich and eternal robe of verdure.

As we pass around the western base of Hermon, we gradually find our way into the narrow valley hemmed in by hills on either side, down which there flows the remotest tributary of the Jordan from the neighbourhood of Hasbeîya. And here, as we wend our way among those grassy eminences, let us take out our map and adjust our geographical knowledge of the region in which

we are to journey for the better part of a week to come. That to which we are accustomed to give the general name of Lebanon is, in fact, a double range of mountains separated from each other by a remarkable hollow, in some places twenty miles broad-known in earlier times as Cole-Syria, in our own days as the Baka'a-and watered by the Leontes, or Litany, and the Orontes. The more northerly of these mountain chains is Lebanon proper, which begins in fact at Mount Amanus, an offshoot of Mount Taurus; and while reaching its grandest elevation in the region in which we are now journeying, is continued, on a lower scale, all through the western side of Palestine, and onward to the barren ridges of Sinai. The more southern chain is Anti-Libanus, whose highest peak is Hermon ; and which may be described, in the same general way, as extending southward on a lower level, and on the eastern side of the Jordan, in the mountains of Gilead, Moab, and Edom, and terminating in those hills which skirt the eastern shores of the Red Sea. It is along the northern side of Anti-Libanus that we are now to journey eastward, with the city of Damascus before us as our goal. We are at home among those mountains, and soon become conscious of the invigorating power of the mountain air; and though we are now out of Palestine, we are still, as it were, in the outer court of the temple. For we cannot forget that, in the palmiest days of Jewish history, Lebanon was subject to the sceptre of Jewish kings, and that this "goodly mountain," which Moses so longed to see, has supplied to Hebrew poetry some of its grandest images and allusions; and that, as a quaint old writer has said, "it was Solomon's botanic garden, for he took his natural history from the cedar that grows on Lebanon, to the moss on the wall."

As we rode cheerfully along, we were struck by the improved style of agriculture which everywhere showed itself, as compared with what we had seen in Palestine. In many places the cornfields were fenced with some care, and weeding was carried on with some vigour. And we found, in addition to the native farmers, who are for the most part Maronite Christians, men all the way from Tyre and some of the northern towns of Palestine, holding farms in these districts, allured

One

by the exceeding productiveness of the soil. person on horseback, who had ridden all the way from his home on the shores of the Mediterranean, was taking careful note of the work that had been done on his farm, and of the state of his crops, as we passed. And we were not less struck with the lingering signs of ancient Phoenician idolatry, or Baal worship, which now began to show themselves, and which increased upon us from day to day. These were traceable, both in the designations of many places to which the name of Baal was attached, and in the ruins of Baal temples which were visible on so many eminences; as the old prophets complained, " on every high hill;" one reason for this location being, that the worshippers might catch the first rays of the rising sun-for Baal worship was in fact sun worship.

We got to Hasbeîya early in the afternoon. It is a picturesquely situated town, of considerable size and importance, built on both sides of a stream which goes to swell the waters of the infant Jordan, that passes down the central valley not far off. Hills of moderate size, terraced to their summits with vineyards and olive gardens, rise on either side; while old Hermon presents, in his pine-clad sides and snowy summit, a background of great sublimity. We found the town in a state of universal commotion when we entered it. The people were out from their houses, and clustering like bees on every available point for observation. We noticed one poor maniac, all but naked, seated far up upon a ruin, who had caught the excitement, and was waiting with vacant smile to witness the spectacle, whatever it might be. It turned out to be a marriage procession, in which the bride was being publicly conducted to the house of her husband. She was seated on horseback, clothed in white and thickly veiled. Other women followed, also on horseback, the friends and companions of the bride, less thickly veiled and less expensively adorned. Tom-toms were incessantly beaten; and one man went before, with his face turned to the bride, and brandishing a sword as if he wished to stop her progress, but always giving way as she advanced. It was hard work, and the poor fellow was perspiring profusely. Water, carried in little phials, was cast in the direction of the bride, and handfuls of corn were flung at her-acts which we willingly interpreted as expressing the wishes of the people that "her bread might be given her, and her waters might be sure." We were reminded by the handfuls of corn of the old custom in our own country, of breaking an oaten cake over the head of the newly-married wife as she passes her husband's threshold for the first time; and as we thought of this, we got some corn from one of the people who seemed all in a state of the highest good-nature, and cast it with our benediction at

the young bride too. She was received with her escort of young maidens into her husband's house, and the door was immediately closed.

Down near the lowest part of the valley, and about the centre of the town, there is a large gloomy structure, having no pretensions to architectural beauty of any kind. It is the residence of the Turkish governor and the barracks of the Turkish soldiers. We could not look on it without a shudder, when we remembered how, so lately as 1860, a thousand native Christians had perished there, in those massacres of mingled treachery and cruelty which made Lebanon for a time a name of horror to the whole civilized world. Whatever political causes may have been at work in producing this and similar tragedies among those mountains, it is beyond question that the principal cause was the Mohammedan hatred of Christians. The Maronite Christians nominally belong to the Roman Catholic Church, though they have a patriarch of their own, and show, both in their doctrine and practice, a considerable independence of Papal rule. They are for the most part an agricultural people, and, though by far the most numerous people in Palestine, their tastes and habits are not warlike. The Druses, again, are a fanatical sect, mingling in their religion a lax Mohammedanism, with rites and mystic practices inherited from the old heathenism. They cherish a turbulent independence and an ostentatious hospitality which is not always unselfish. They are universally soldiers, and have little compunction in deeds of rapine and murder. They regard the Maronites with a fanatical hatred that is only held back from bloodshed by the dread of an authority which may exact a double vengeance, but which in certain junctures has winked at their atrocities. These were the ruthless agents who sought the entire destruction not only of the Maronites, but of every Christian, Greek or Protestant, in Hasbeîya-a tragedy of crime in which, if the Turkish powers themselves were not the prompters, they had at all events a most guilty complicity. The poor Maronites, worsted by their persecutors, fled to the palace and sought the protection of the governor. This was solemnly promised in writing, on condition of their remaining within the walls of the citadel and laying down their arms. When this was done, and the too confiding victims were weakened by days and nights of hunger and thirst, the Druses were let loose upon them, and the gates closed, and Christians to the number of a thousand hacked in pieces by axes and other rude instruments that prolonged and doubled the terrors of death. There were some who escaped the wholesale carnage, and among these was the native Protestant missionary at Hasbeîya, though his son, a noble youth, perished. A Druse lady who had received some kindness

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from him warned him, at the eleventh hour, of his danger, and kept him in a quiet hiding-place until "those sad calamities were overpast." amiable missionary visited us in our tent after sunset, bringing with him as his interpreter his only daughter, who had been taught English at Beyrout, and a number of the children of his school. The shadow of that day of cruelty still rested on the countenance of the old man, and will never leave it until he passes into the light of heaven. We admired the simplicity of his faith and the love of his spirit. The bright-eyed Arab girls from his school were introduced into our tent, and sang beautifully in Arabic a number of juvenile hymns translated from our own language; concluding, to our surprise and delight, with singing to one of our own tunes, and in well-pronounced English, "There is a happy land, far, far away." Was it not such children as these, of the same colour and contour, that sang hosannas long ago to the Son of David?

We left Hasbeîya in the morning, amid rain and thunder, which seemed to threaten us with slippery paths during the day, and with damp tents at night. But, as often happens in life, we fed by anticipation on sorrows that never came. It soon brightened into a cloudless day, revealing to us the characteristic features of this mountain region, which repeated themselves upon us without weariness. There were mountain villages, far up among the pines, whose white houses seemed in the distance to be diminished to the size of shells upon the sea-shore. Other villages seemed to cling to the rocky mountain-sides like the nests of swallows; while here and there, in some protected nook, or cresting some commanding eminence, there was the convent of some religious order, or the castle of some old robber chief, who continued to wield over the surrounding region a rough and rudely-defined feudal power. We were delighted with the position of Rasheia, which was our next halting-place. It stands at the foot of Hermon, on the northern side, opposite to that which is visible from Cesarea Philippi. The ample dews descending from the mountain make the vineyards and orchards appear as if they had received a double blessing. One cloud fell upon the picture, when we thought that up in yon citadel on the brow of the hill the slaughter-weapons of the frenzied Druses had done their bloody work as ruthlessly as at Hasbeîya.

We had unpleasant experience, on the following night, of the violent changes of temperature which are not uncommon in this part of Syria. All night we were unable to sleep because of the cold. Even when we left our tent in the morning, the thermometer had only risen to 38°; and yet, ere we had proceeded many hours on our

journey, it had gone up to 100°. We were reminded of Jacob's complaint to his selfish fatherin-law, that in "the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night." Our journey this day was all the distance to Damascus, and it occupied us nearly ten fatiguing hours. During the earlier part of the day we passed through an agricultural region, in which Saul of Tarsus, travelling perhaps by this same road, may have seen the very picture which we chanced to see, and to which proverbial allusion was made in his memorable vision-an ox in the plough urged on by the ploughman's goad, and wounding himself worse by impatiently kicking against the pricks. But as we advanced the way became almost desert, and the heat of the fierce sun, especially as reflected from our sandy path, became almost intolerable. Through a double-lined umbrella, and a turban with many thick folds, its terrible rays pierced, heating our blood and fevering our brain. How dazzling must have been. the light of Saul's mid-day vision, when it exceeded the radiance of such a sun!

We

It was an unspeakable relief to our half-blinded eyes, and a most welcome refreshment to our spirits, when Damascus at length rose up before us, as we journeyed, like a beautiful dream. could not indeed see it in detail, but the partial veil perhaps heightened the impression. There it stood, about an hour distant, embosomed in the midst of trees of every name, and watered by innumerable streams, its hundreds of graceful spires and tall airy minarets rising in the midst of a sea of green. Thirty miles of gardens circle it round about. Its singularly pure atmosphere, and the deep blue sky bending over it, greatly enhance its beauty, and almost make you believe that Nature must have looked thus before the Fall. We do not wonder at the saying which has been ascribed to Mohammed when, gazing down on its loveliness from near the heights of Salahiyeh, he turned away from it at length, saying, "Man can have but one paradise, and mine is fixed above." The poets of the East kindle into glowing enthusiasm as they write of it "Thou art fresh as the breath of spring, blooming as thine own rose-bud, and fragrant as thine own orange-flower, O Damascus, pearl of the East."

It would have been unnatural, too, not to feel the attraction of a city which is literally as old as history itself, the oldest great city in the world, and which stands prominent in the narratives and allusions of the Bible from its earliest to its latest page. It was already a place of note in Abraham's time, when he obtained from it his faithful steward, Eliezer. Josephus tells us that it was built by Uz, a grandson of Noah, in which case its foundations must have been laid soon after the first dispersion from the great centre of Ararat.

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