companied him from Jerusalem, except the three mentioned in the following verse.-VERSE 37. Who were the two sons of Zebedee? James and John. Matt. x. 2. These three apostles had beheld his transfiguration-now they had to behold his humiliation and sadness. Matt. xvii. 4.-VERSE 38. The words "exceedingly sorrowful," are expressive of the most intense agony, extending even to death. Luke xxii. 44. Why were the disciples commanded to watch? Lest by supineness and sleep they should be unprepared for the trials and dangers awaiting them. 1 Thess. v. 6.VERSE 39. Why did he retire a little further? To give expression to the fulness of his grief in prayer. To what does the word "cup" refer? To the cup of suffering or of trembling. There was the cup of wrath as well as the cup of salvation. Psalm lxxiv. 8; Isaiah li. 17; Jer. xxv. 15, 17; Matt. xx. 22, 23. The cup of poison was offered to prisoners taken in war.-VERSE 40. Why was Peter especially addressed? Because he had been foremost in asserting his strong attachment and entire devotedness to Christ. Such an appeal under such circumstances was most affecting.-VERSE

41.

What is a temptation? A trial; a test. What is meant by entering into temptation? Being overcome by it. What is the import of the words, "the spirit," &c.? That they were sincere friends, but that their own powers were weak in resisting temptation. These words may be regarded not as an excuse in mitigation of their sins, but as a motive to their prayer and vigilance.

IMPROVEMENT.-Admire the patience and submission of Christ : and remember that "he bore our sins and carried our sorrows." Watchfulness and prayer can alone secure us from the power of temptation.

SEPTEMBER 1.

Morning Reading, 2 Kings vi.

Morning Lesson, Matt. xxvi. 42-46.

NOTES ON THE LESSON.

VERSE 42. Our Lord renewed his prayer, and expressed more entirely his resignation to the will of the Father. Psalm xxii. 1, lxxxi. 1; Hebrews iv. 15.-VERSE 43. Did the disciples regard his appeal and exhortation? No; they again slept. They were not sufficiently impressed with a sense of their danger.-VERSE 44. The drowsiness of the disciples did not make him insensible to the duty of prayer. Luke xviii. 1; 2 Cor. xii. 8; Col. iv. 2; 1 Thess. v. 17.-VERSE 45. What did he afterwards say to them? They of trial had actually arrived. The Jewish rulers and peo

might continue in sleep, as the hour Who are the sinners here alluded to?

ple-the Roman governor and soldiers. What is meant by "hands?" Power or control.-VERSE 46. The Saviour declares the near approach of the traitor, and urges the disciples to arise.

prayer.

IMPROVEMENT.-When afflictions abound, continue instant in "Give no sleep to your eyes-no slumber to your eyelids," when the interests of Christ and of your Christian character are endangered. Psalm cxxxii. 3, 4, 5.

Afternoon Reading, Exod. xvii.

Afternoon Lesson, Matt. xxvi. 47-56.

NOTES ON THE LESSON.

66

VERSE 47. Why is Judas frequently described as one of the twelve?" Matt. xxvi. 14; Luke xxii. 3; Acts i. 17. To show that distinguised privileges are not always connected with genuine piety. "Christ is often wounded in the house of his professed friends." Who accompanied Judas? A great multitude. What did Judas and the rulers expect? A violent struggle on the part of Christ and his followers, and therefore they came armed.-Verse 48. What is a sign? A mark by which somthing is made known or represented. What sign did Judas adopt in betraying Christ? A kiss. Was not this sign basely perverted? Yes; because a kiss is expressive of affection and reverence. Gen. xxvii. 26; Psalm ii. 12; Luke vii. 45; 1 Peter v. 14. Was Judas bent upon the capture of Jesus? Yes. He gave directions to hold him fast. What is meant by the word "Hail"? It is a word of salutation; and expresses the wish of prosperity and comfort. Mark xv. 18; Luke i. 28.-VERSE 49. How did Judas accost our Lord? He professedly wished him well; called him "master," and gave him the token of friendship.—VERSE 51. Who struck the servant of the High Friest? Peter. See John xviii. 10. The other evangelists do not mention his name, for as their gospels were written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and during the life-time of Peter, its being recorded might have enraged the Chief Priest against Peter. Did our Lord heal the servant? See Luke xxii. 51.-VERSE 52. Did Jesus approve of Peter's conduct? No; he told him not to use the sword in his defence. Have the words "they that take," &c., been verified? Yes; they have been awfully verified in the history of war. War is productive of war. There is nothing in war to restrain itself. Gen. ix. 6; Psalm lv. 23; Ezek. xxxv. 5, 6; Rev. xiii. 10.-VERSE 53. How many soldiers were in a legion? About 6,200 foot, and 300 horse soldiers; the power of more than 78,000 angels could not be overcome by the collective forces of human night. In what way could Christ obtain their assistance? Simply

by praying to his Father. VERSE 54. What scriptures might be referred to? Psalm xxii. lxix. ; Isaiah liii.; Zech, xiii. 7.-VERSE 55. Judea was infested by bold and determined thieves, who could be captured only with difficulty and danger. What a contrast between the leader of such a band and the meek and holy Jesus! Where did Christ teach? In the temple, i. e., in the court surrounding the temple, for only priests and Levites were allowed to enter the temple itself.-VERSE 56. What became of the disciples when Christ gave himself up to his enemies? They forsook him and fled. Verse 31. Mark xiv. 50; John xvi. 32; 2 Tim. iv. 16.

IMPROVEMENT.-Abhor treachery and deception; guard against rashness, and follow the example of the meek and lowly Jesus.

REVIEWS.

Lectures on the Conversion of the Jews: by Ministers of Different Denominations. Published under the Sanction of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. London: W. Aylott.

WE have been greatly interested by the perusal of this volume. The lectures are all of sterling value, and worthy of the names they bear. Let not our readers imagine, from the title of the volume, that its contents are dry and topical, as is often the case with printed "lectures" and "sermons ;" we can assure them that, if they have any taste, they will be delighted with the entire course.

If required to offer an opinion as to the relative merits of the several lectures, we should give our preference to those of Messrs Hamilton and Archer, and Dr Harris. The lecture on "The Destination of the Jews" contains some delicious passages -as witness the following extract:—

Looking to the present languid and withered aspect of the country, it may be a question with some whether a literal restoration to Palestine would be a blessing to the Jews. On that question we deem the people themselves the best judges, and, if they desire it, it must be a blessing-a blessing because they desire it. The question with the exile is not whether his native land, or his place of banishment, be the fairest and most fruitful; but all the question is, how shall he get home? But, independently of this, Palestine is a 'goodly land.' Its intrinsic resources

are far from despicable, and its position relatively to other lands, perhaps the most advantageous in the world. Spread out beneath a sky whose severest aspect is mild, and whose summer glow is only intense enough to elaborate those aromatic harvests unknown in more moist and chilly climes, Palestine used to be a land of sprightly music and long livers. In those regions where the air is sluggish, life is dull, and men do their work in silence. But in healthful climes, muscular energy is redundant, and the animal spirits overflow, and the prodigal excess of life and power escapes in joyous shouts and nimble movements—in leaping and dancing, in melody and song. And just as you infer, not more from its long livers-those gay old 'grasshoppers '-than from its merry singers, that ancient Attica must have been a genial, lifesome land, so you may gather, not more from the frequency of fourscore and fivescore among its patriarchs, than from the abundance of its popular minstrelsy and daily music, that Palestine was a cheerful and salubrious land. From the matron at the well to the watchman on the walls-from the strain that gushed with earliest spring to the shout which closed the vintage-there were tokens unequivocal of life in its sunshine, and inspiration in its air. And perhaps nothing can show the change more solemnly than that a land once so vocal should be so silent now. And as it was a salubrious, so it was a fertile, land. In its better days it was 'the garden of the Lord-a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills—a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates-a land of oilolive and honey.' The long desolations have dried up many of its fountains, blasted its vines, and sadly thinned its fig trees; but the bee still murmurs on the fragrant cliffs of Carmel, and the sleek olive yields its fatness in Gethsemane. The ruthless natives, and more ruthless strangers, have not been able to exterminate the cedars of Lebanon; sycamores grow by the wayside, as when Zaccheus clambered up to catch a glimpse of the illustrious stranger; and the Arabian pitches his tent beneath the terebinth, like his father Abraham when angels visited him at Mamre. The almond tree flourishes along the Jordan; and like a pyramid of silver cleaves the azure of a cloudless spring, even as when its glad signal announced to the youth of Judah the winter past, and its snowy blossoms on leafless branches reminded the monarch preacher that his own almond tree would soon be flourishing. Jericho was the city of palm trees in the days of Moses. The palm trees of Jericho carpeted the path of the Prince of Peace on the only triumphal procession this world ever gave

him. Jericho is the city of palm trees still. The trees, whose borrowed foliage spread a canopy of green over Jerusalem at each Feast of Tabernacles, have not entirely vanished. And even those humbler glories of the field, which no goodly land can want, may still be recognised. Sharon has not lost its rose, and among the hills of Galilee you still may gather the gorgeous amaryllis, descendant of those very lilies to which the Divine Teacher pointed one autumn evening eighteen hundred years ago, and bade his disciples 'consider' them. A traveler speaks with rapture of the delicious odour which sprang at every footstep from Jerusalem to Jaffa, when the long looked-for rains had revived the rosemary and other scented flowers. Hasselquist was charmed with the jasmine of Palestine—a trivial circumstance, were it not that a prophecy of many a sweet Jewish home, and rural dwelling, may be unfolded in that flower. But what is economically of far more moment, amidst all the recklessness of its trampling invaders, and all the resourceless poverty of its abject cultivators, the soil gives symptoms of its exuberant fertility. The lazy boor on the seacoast scratches the mould, and flings in a handfull of melon-seed, and is rewarded with the most delicious produce in the world. The mountain ranges to the north are as green as when the bulls of Bashan riqted on their dripping slopes. And the very thistle forests, which, dense and tall, usurp its plains, show that these plains are capable of yielding again their heaps of corn. In short, the Lord has only to turn that captivity, like streams in the south, to fill the channel of that dry and thirsty land with the stream of its returning population, in order to clothe it on every side with the fertility and glories of unexpected spring. Let but the seed of Jacob people it once more, and its pastures will be clothed with flocks, and its valleys will be covered over with corn. And whilst the little hills exult on every side, the people that went forth weeping shall doubtless come again rejoicing."

Our readers, we are sure, will pardon the length of this extract, on the ground of its beauty.

The volume abounds with interesting views respecting the present, past, and future condition of the Jews. It is difficult to select, when there is so much variety; we, therefore, recommend our readers to take up the volume and peruse it for themselves. We are convinced that none can read this course of lectures with any seriousness, without feeling deeply for the sins and the sorrows of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.