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8 formity to the civil and religious law. As the king concluded in these emphatic terms-" Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and thy saints rejoice in goodness: O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant"—the cloud, which had rested over the Holy of Holics, grew brighter and more dazzling; fire broke out and consumed all the sacrifices; the priests stood without, awe-struck by the insupportable 9 splendor; the whole people fell on their faces, and worshipped and praised the Lord, "for he is good, for his mercy is for ever." Which was the greater, the external magnificence, or the moral sublimity of this scene? Was it the temple situated on its commanding eminence, with all its courts, the dazzling splendor of its materials, the innumerable multitudes, the priesthood in their gorgeous attire, the king, with all the insignia of royalty, on his throne of burnished brass, the music, the radiant cloud filling the temple, the sudden fire flashing upon the altar, the whole 10 nation upon their knees? Was it not, rather, the religious grandeur of the hymns and of the prayer: the exalted and rational views of the Divine Nature, the union of a whole people in the adoration of the one Great, Incomprehensible, Almighty, Everlasting Creator?

LESSON XXX.

Prayer of Solomon at the Dedication of the Temple.-BIBLE. 1 AND Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven, above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him : thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou 2 promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy chil

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dren take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to 3 hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place: and when thou hearest, forgive.

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If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath 4 be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy pople Israel, and bring 5 them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

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When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer and

supplication soever be made by any man, or by all t people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house; then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, 7 knowest the hearts of all the children of men ;) that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Moreover, concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;" hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have builded is called by thy name.

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LESSON XXXI.

Night.-MONTGOMERY.

NIGHT is the time for rest;

How sweet, when labors close,
To gather round our aching breast
The curtain of repose;

Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head
Upon our own delightful bed!

2 Night is the time for dreams,—

The gay romance of life,

When truth that is, and truth that seems,

Blend in fantastic strife;

Ah, visions less beguiling far

Than waking dreams by daylight are!

3 Night is the time for toil :

To plough the classic field,
Intent to find the buried spoil
Its wealthy furrows yield;
Till all is ours that sages taught,
That poets sang, or heroes wrought

4. Night is the time to weep;
To wet with unseen tears

Those graves of memory, where sleep
The joys of other years;

Hopes that were angels in their birth,
But perished young, like things of earth.

5 Night is the time to watch;
On ocean's dark expanse
To hail the Pleiades, or catch
The full moon's earliest glance,
That brings into the home-sick mind
All we loved and left behind.

6 Night is the time for care;

Brooding on hours mispent,
To see the spectre of despair
Come to our lonely tent;

Like Brutus, midst his slumbering host,
Startled by Cæsar's stalworth gost.

7. Night is the time to muse:

Then from the eye the soul

Takes flight, and, with expanding views,
Beyond the starry pole,

Descries athwart the abyss of night,
The dawn of uncreated light,

8 Night is the time to pray :

Our Savior oft withdrew

To desert mountains far away:
So will his followers do;
Steal from the throng to haunts untrod,
And hold communion there with God.

9 Night is the time for death;

When all around is peace,
Calmly to yield the weary breath,
From sin and suffering cease;

Think of heaven's bliss, and give the sign

To parting friends :-Such death be mine!

(m) Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,

In rayless majesty, now stretches forth

Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumb'ring world.
Silence how dead! and darkness how profound!
Nor eye, nor listening eàr, an object finds;
Creation sleeps. "Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause :
An awful pause! prophetic of her end.-Young.

LESSON XXXII.

What is Education.-ANONYMOUS.

1 This may seem a very simple question, and very easily answered; but many who think so, would really be very.. much at a loss to answer it correctly. Every nan, in at free country, wants three sorts of education: one, to fit him for his own particular trade or calling; this is professional education: another, to teach him his duties as a man and a citizen; this is moral and political education: and a third to fit him for his higher relations, as God's creature, designed for immortality; this is religious education. Now, in point of fact, that is most useful to a man which tends 2 most to his happiness; a thing so plain, that seems foolish to state it. Yet people constantly take the word "useful" in another sense, and mean by it, not what tends most to a man's happiness, but what tends most to get money for him; and therefore they call professional education a very useful thing: but the time which is spent in general education, whether moral or religious, they are apt to grudge as thrown away, especially if it interfere with the other education, to which, they confine the name of "useful;" that is, the education which enables a man to gain his live3 lihood. Yet we might all be excellent in our several trades and professions, and still be very ignorant, very miserable, and very wicked. We might do pretty well just while we are at work on our business; but no man is at work always. There is a time which we spend with our families; a time which we spend with our friends and neighbors; and a very important time which we spend with ourselves. If we know not how to pass these times well, we are very contemptible and worthless men, though we may be very excellent lawyers, surgeons, chemists, 4 engineers, mechanics, laborers, or whatever else may be our particular employment: Now, what enables us to pass

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