even to that remote and unknown land which God had promised to shew him-" they went forth to go into the land of Canaan." But with whatever sincerity of purpose Terah had commenced the pilgrimage, he did not long persevere in it. He never crossed the boundaries of his native country; but after a short journey in the direction of the promised land, either overcome by the infirmities of age, or discouraged by reason of the way, he sat down, not in a tabernacle, like one who was ready on the morrow to strike his tent and march onward, but with that pertinacity of habit which in old age peculiarly manifests itself, he settled himself once more in a city of Mesopotamia-" He came unto Haran and dwelt there."

The death of Terah soon left Abram at liberty to recommence his journey. He collected together the property he had acquired while dwelling in Haran, and took with him that orphan charge bequeathed to him and his father; the only son of his deceased brother. For the space of three years after their departure from Haran, Lot continued to accompany his uncle in their journeyings through the land of Canaan, a witness of the piety and courage with which, though surrounded by the powerful and idolatrous Anakim, Abram built in every place of his temporary sojourning an altar to the Lord; and a partaker of the temporal blessings promised by Jehovah to his faithful servant; for we read, "Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents." It was well, however, for the patriarch that he was not dependant for the solace of companionship and affection upon the unstable and worldly-minded Lot, who too soon abandoned the

pilgrim's life to dwell in the "cities of the plain.” With whatever degree of affection he might have looked upon the guardian of his youth, it was not powerful enough to bind him to Abram when the hopes of self-aggrandizement, by means of their separation, awakened within his bosom: and it was well for the man who remained still a stranger and a sojourner in the land-for him whose heart had been already so deeply rent by separation from kindred and home and country-that one human friend was still left to him, whom no diversity of fortune, no peril nor chance of worldly loss, could sever from his side-one who knew no exile where her Lord was present, and who, like him, was content to sojourn in the land of promise as in a strange country, looking for a city "which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Time was, when the yet unfallen representative of the human race walked before God in the blamelessness of perfect integrity, enjoying not alone the sovereignty of the creatures, the beauty, the profusion, and the solacement of external nature, but also that which only could satisfy the cravings of his immortal soul-the consciousness of the Creator's love, and the ready response to that love which the harmony of the unbroken moral law within his breast gave back with every vibration of its mysterious chords. It was at such a time as this, so replenished from without, so harmonious within, that the eye of Omniscience discovered something which was yet wanting to perfect man's felicity. His spiritual nature could go forth in holy communion with God; but his human mind found no companionship either in the natural or animal world around him. "And

the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." The gift which was granted to man in the day of his uprightness has not been withdrawn from him in the day of his transgression; and to the present hour none of the sons of Adam has been so poor or so outcast, but that there might be found a help meet for his necessity, a sharer of his forlorn condition. The records of crime and misery often exhibit something in the hard-tried, devoted attachment of a wife, which so far surpasses the limits of human patience and endurance, that it can be accounted for only by supposing that the Creator, in implanting within the breast the instinct of conjugal affection, gave to it the force of an elastic power, rising with every fresh demand upon its energies, and, like the fragile-looking asbestos, not only resisting the fierceness of the hottest flame, but appearing to become whiter and purer in the fiery process.

But it is not alone in the enduring fidelity of her attachment to the fate and fortunes of man, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health," that woman-woman, the daughter, sister, mother, wife-has been a help meet for him. Look at the history of those ancient nations, the light of whose cultivated reason contrasts strangely with the darkness of their vain imaginations in their perceptions of spiritual things; and see how the name of woman blends with everything that is lofty in heroism, pure in patriotism, and noble in selfsacrifice. Nor have the annals of Christendom been found to fail in bearing testimony to the fact, that woman-enlightened by the gospel of the grace of God, and raised from the degradation of her former

position by that gospel-has been a mighty instrument in the hands of God for the preservation of his faith upon earth, and a watchful conservator of all its pure and holy charities.

The heirs of the grace of life" are still professing to seek a country-still confessing themselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth; and shall not those who are called to be "heirs together with them," willingly give up, as Sarai did the fond idolatries of youth, the desire of worldly ease, and approbation, and aggrandizement, to become helpmeets and not hinderers of the pilgrims of Canaan ?

LYDIA.

COULD an unpurified sinner find entrance into heaven, it would be an impeachment on the Father's justice, an insult to the Saviour's atonement, a denial of the Spirit's offices, a contempt put upon the Spirit's work, a spot upon the disk of God's perfections, a speck on the purity of Christ's redemption. The sight would strike horror into the choir of the ransomed, would silence their song of triumph, would wither the palms in their hands, would pale the lustre of the diadems upon their brows; for how could they know but that, by the aperture at which that sinner had entered, Satan himself might stand among them too?-Rev. T. Dale.

LETTERS TO A FRIEND.

II.

[By an oversight of the Editor, the third letter in this series was inserted last month instead of this, which is the second.]

For the purpose of giving you some sketches of our earliest records of Ireland, I have applied myself to the account transmitted to us by Geoffry Keating, D.D. I can promise nothing from myself, but merely to be a gleaner from others, being unacquainted with the Irish language. If I had even an opportunity of seeing the many valuable old records which have never yet been explored, they must remain so by me. I begin with Keating's history, because he understood the language thoroughly, and wrote his history in it. In the edition, published 1809, of his work now before me, translated by Dermod O'Connor, Antiquary of the kingdom of Ireland, I find the following account of the author. Rev. J. Keating studied in Spain for twenty-three years, in the college of Salamanca. On his return home he was appointed parish priest of Tybrud. He was esteemed very learned, very zealous in religion, and of a patriotic spirit.

In the zealous discharge of his sacerdotal duties, he exasperated the temper of a man who became an