heaven ?" Would it be the site of some ancient residence of an Egyptian Ptolomy, some temple of classic Greece, some palace of the reigning Cæsar, or some castle of Herod, the king of Judæa? No.

THE SECOND VIEW.-The birthplace of Jesus, instead of being one of grandeur, was of the plainest, the humblest description conceivable. On the roadside, at a public inn, in a stable of a caravanserai, and "manger out of which the cattle ate, was the "cot" in which the Messenger of Mercy lay. Here was majesty in poverty, nobility in humility. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

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The humble mother need not despair, although her child be the son of poverty. Let her, like Mary, the mother of our Lord, hope and pray; and her child may yet rise to the dignity of piety, and become like a star of the first magnitude in station and brilliancy. "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

The reception with which the Prince of Mercy was met was anything but that which heaven might have expected. The reigning monarch sought the young child's life to destroy it, but failed in the mad attempt. A divine providence ever looks after, watches over, and regulates the life of the newly born infant, as well as the affairs of the aged sire, or the mightiest monarch upon his throne. And while the mother looks down and smiles upon her babe, heaven looks down and smiles upon it too.

THE THIRD VIEW.-The soul of the child in whom the spirit of Mercy had found an abode, when only twelve years old, beamed forth with such divine light, and burned with such celestial brightness, as to fix the attention of the doctors of the age, when He set Himself the task of attending to his "Father's

business." And when the mother, with sighs and tears, sought her absent Son, this Son did her reverence by showing to her filial obedience; and in honouring her for a mother's anxious care, was fulfilled the first commandment with promise, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

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If the mother would be honoured by her child, she must train that child in the he should go, by taking him in prayer to his mother's God, by leading him in the straight paths of her own piety and virtue; and verily, like the mother of Jesus, she shall have her reward.

THE FOURTH VIEW.The acts performed by the glorious Man-God, by Him whose looks and words were mercy, were shown to the poor and needy; and such was the confidence reposed in Him by mothers, that they brought their infants for Him to touch them. It was the faith of the Peræan* mothers that gave occasion for the immortal words-words which are as gleams of brightness to the mother's soul, as sunshine to the beholder's eye. Jesus called them unto Him, and said, "Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." Jesus, in taking infant human nature in his arms and blessing it, puts it a little higher up, and the same arms are stretched out still to take every state of humanity a little higher up. The disciples would have driven the mothers and children away; but not so Christ. The Son of God, whose acts were mercy, has the same heart for infants now, and the same heart-stirring

"Christ in Peræa." (Neander, 'Life of Christ,' p. 364.)

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words for mothers. For by the influence of His grace and truth, He takes them one by one a little higher up, until he bears them away in his arms to glory.

THE FIFTH VIEW.-How earnest was that Greek mother of Syrophenician origin, when she came before the Lord of Mercy to plead a daughter's cause

-a daughter possessed. The violence of the evil experienced only raised the tone of this mother's speech. A seeming repulse was no repulse to her, and she drew up the forces of her words under the generalship of faith, and by the sharply pointed instrument of language she obtained a daughter's deliverance from the strife and torment of an unclean spirit. So may Christian mothers pray to the same Deliverer, and their prayers shall be answered in their children's emancipation from the power of evil,

THE SIXTH VIEW.-The bright light shining from the face of Mercy ever makes sin ashamed, while it gives to the sinner hope. On one occasion, when these two things occurred, Jesus, as if conscious within Himself that such was the result of His presence, said, "I am the light of the world."

A conference once took place, wherein three parties met. The accusers stood on one side, the accused on the other, and Jesus acted the part of Mediator. A woman who was a sinner was the subject of debate. The lulled conscience of the accusers awoke, as if from a dream, by a directly aimed and justly merited rebuke, and thus, conscience stricken, they drooped their heads, and retired one by one from the presence of Him who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person."

The accused one, being left in the presence of Mercy, was left with hope-hope, bright and smiling for the future-on one possible condition, "Go, and

sin no more." Man! Woman! thrust not your fellow sinner, however lowly fallen, lower down; tread not the life-blood in the dust; wound not with barbed, with poisoned arrow of rancorous hatred the already too deeply wounded soul. Strike not the breast already bruised and black with heavy blows; stab not the heart already bleeding at every pore; torment not the body that has been so long upon the rack. Rather act the part of the good Samaritan, who, when he had found one who had fallen amongst thieves, stripped, wounded, and left half dead, went to him, bound up his wounds, and poured in oil and wine, and took care of him in order to restore the wounded, to recover the fallen.

Speak gently to the fallen one, as Mercy did, be she a fallen sister or a fallen friend. Speak in tones of love, in notes of forgiveness, in whispers of hope. Sound the keynote which the Man of Mercy ever gave to the penitent; and the heart of the sinful one, however sinful, will echo back the sound, for the penitent soul is as a whispering gallery to the heavenly tones of love. Let not the music be too high, let it not be too low; and the human heart will supply the echo, in sending back responsive sounds. Give no unmeaning, merely sentimental, consolations; hold out no false hopes. On this one possible practical condition, and on it alone, receive the fallen ones, that they go and sin no more.

THE SEVENTH VIEW. Those who make Mercy their friend secure for themselves a friendship which distinguishes itself in special acts, which will be seen in times of the greatest difficulty and seasons of the deepest sorrow.

Jesus, the Ambassador of the Court of Mercy, was the domestic Friend of Lazarus, and Martha and Mary. The brother died. The family Friend

was away, but only to return, so that His friendship might be shown in a more conspicuous way, in order to be felt and appreciated all the more by His amiable and devoted companions.

To one of the bereaved sisters He declared Himself to be "the resurrection and the life." And to prove the truth of the assertion, "Jesus wept " the tears of friendship, distilling the sacred grief into the grave of Lazarus, watering the dead, that it might shoot forth with new life, and raise its head, living, above the ground.

The divine words, "Lazarus, come forth," accompanied, as they were, with the celestial power, opened the prison-house of death, restored a brother to bereaved sisters, a friend to sorrowing friends, a companion and disciple to a deeply sympathising and weeping Christ.

Reader, make a friend of Mercy, and you will make friendship with the resurrection of the dead and with the glories of the world to come.

THE EIGHTH VIEW.-The road which Mercy had to walk was a rugged one, an uphill steep. With weeping eyes, with bleeding feet, it never ceased to pursue its onward way. Its every step was higher and higher still. It began at the lowest step. It became poor. Upward it went from the manger to the cross, and then to the throne, slowly but surely, to adapt itself to the state and condition of poor, weak, heart-broken humanity, that at every step it might take it a little higher up.

The hour came for the last, the great, the crowning work to be done. With troubled soul, with fainting step, the top of the hill is reached. It is Calvary, "where they crucified Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." The faithful few among the faithless disciples, faithless to love and mercy, stood