been buoyed up with the false hope that has led her on toward apparent destruction; but in this, as in other great national occurrences, we feel that there is one overruling Hand which turns even the wrath of men into working out His high behests.

Events follow so quickly that it would be futile to predict in these columns the result of the next few weeks' development of the Eastern Question. At the time we write there appears to be a general satisfaction with the explanations of our Government, on the reassembling of Parliament; but the political atmosphere seems so oppressive and charged with the fierce breath of war, that we cannot but dread lest some unforeseen event, falling like a spark upon explosive material, should suddenly kindle the smouldering heat into a blaze, which, if once lighted, the Peace party, backed though it is by reason and common sense and the truest" British interests," would be utterly powerless to extinguish. Now is the critical time for effort, and it behoves each one to do all that Christian men can do to pour water on the inflammable matter, to check the nascent flame, and to calm the excited feelings of all who dare to agitate for a war which, once entered upon, would involve this country in untold calamity.

EDITOR.

6

VOICES OF NATURE

THOU hast a language, Nature, all thine own,
For every human heart; an answering tone

In joy or sadness. Hast thou not thy streams,
That seem to shout exultingly their themes
Of love and joy? In them the spirit high,
To its outpourings finds a meet reply,
And revels in their music. Far from these,
In the dim forest, speaks the voice of trees
In gentle whispers, to the listening ear
Of pensive meditation. Soft and clear,
Murmurs the brooklet onward; and for him,
Whose cup of sorrow mantles to the brim,
Are there not solemn rivers, with whose flow
Mingles a voice of faintly-uttered woe?
All these thou hast, and more, but give to me
The stirring sound of breezes rustling free!
Oh! sweet, wild, wind! my spirit fain would soar,
Upborne by thee, to where the summits hoar
Of Alpine mountains rise in snowy pride,
Or where thou soundest o'er the ocean wide
Shrieking with fury, or derisive glee,
At all that dares oppose itself to thee!
Yet not alone 'mid scenes of might and power,
Lov'st thou to dwell, for where the tender flower
Trembles to feel thy presence in the grove,
Thou canst be gentle as the hand of love;
Thou scatterest silently the blossoms fair,
Of dying lilies on the summer air.
In all thy moods I love thee, gentle wind!
Fit exponent of Nature's varied mind;
That holds communion with every breast,
Revives the fainting, lulls the worn to rest,
And leads the fervent spirit to adore

That Power that still shall reign, when worlds shall be

no more!

C. E. F.

7

CHRIST THE MODEL TEACHER.

BY STANLEY PUMPHREY.

(A Paper read before the Friends' Biennial Bible-School Conference at Indianapolis, United States, Eleventh Month 14th, 1877.)

"THE common people heard Him gladly"; "Great multitudes came together to hear" (Luke v. 15): "The people resorted unto Him, and as He was wont He taught them (Mark x. 1): "There was gathered with them a great multitude, and He taught them many things (Mark iv. 1, 2): "He taught them as one having authority" (Matt. vii. 28): "His word was with power" (Luke iv. 28): "Never man spake like this man" (John vii. 46):-these are some of many expressions scattered through the Gospels which indicate how wide-spread and deep was the impression produced by the ministry of the Lord Jesus. His unrivalled instructions, as well as in His perfect life, He left us an example that we should follow His steps. Let us, therefore, consider those features of His teaching that are imitable by us, and endeavour to gather lessons that may help us in our walk.

In

We find that the teaching of the Saviour is couched in simple language, the meaning is made clear, it is always forcible, and always interesting. The remark made by the Hindoos to Elkanah Beard, "What good words these are, how nicely Jesus puts things," well illustrates the impression produced by the words of the Saviour on thoughtful minds whose perceptions have not been dulled by familiarity. Everything is eminently well put. If we ask how Jesus succeeded in making His teaching so plain, forcible, and interesting, we shall find that one secret lay in the free use

of apt illustration. "Without a parable spake He not unto them." In other words, He was always using illustrations. This characteristic must strike the least observant. The illustrations were drawn from all sorts of subjects: farming, mechanics, commerce, social customs, domestic occupations, household furniture, the sports of children, religious rites, judicial proceedings, history, natural history, beasts, birds, fishes, insects, trees, fruits and flowers, rain and sunshine, food and clothing, salt and fuel, dust and rust, gold and copper -all these, and many more, are brought in to give point to His lessons.

In the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan (the latter is believed to have described an actual occurrence) He made use of well-told stories ; in speaking of the fall of the tower in Siloam and Pilate's cruelty to the Galilæans, and possibly also in the parable of the Pounds, he referred to the news of the day; in His allusions to Noah and Abraham, to Elijah and Elisha, to Abel and Zechariah, to the Queen of Sheba and the widow of Zarephath, to the destruction of Sodom and the repentance of Nineveh, to David using the shewbread, and the supply of the manna-He drew lessons from the history of His own and other countries; in calling for the tribute-money and in taking in His arms the little child, He may be said to have given object-lessons; in blasting the figtree and in washing the disciples' feet He made use of acted parables.

Turning to one or two of our Lord's longer discourses, let us see what characteristics we discover there. The Sermon on the Mount is the first, and, in some respects, the most important of them. Here the illustrative character of His teaching is very marked. To prove this would be to repeat almost entire the list so lately given.

Another element of impressiveness in His teaching

is found in the forcible repetitions of words and thoughts. While in the denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, the "Woe unto you, hypocrites," bursts upon the hearers like a succession of thunder-claps, in the Beatitudes, the blessings and promises come like notes of exquisite music, swelling and culminating in perfect melody. Sometimes an important lesson is conveyed in the constant repetition of a single word. It is in the Sermon on the Mount that God is first distinctly revealed to us in the character of a Father. In a few scattered passages in the Old Testament, hardly a dozen of them altogether, He is indeed spoken of in this relationship, but how differently is it apprehended when seventeen times in one short discourse the word "father" is brought in, connected with the personal pronouns that assure the titles to us as our right,-"thy Father," "your Father, "our Father, which art in heaven." How often the words, "Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time," are set over against the "I say unto you." Again, Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites-when thou givest alms-when thou prayest-when thou fastest,―and accompanied by the sternly repeated irony, "They have their reward." "If thy hand offend thee cut it off; if thine eye offend thee pluck it out."

But it was not only by the repetition of words and phrases that our Lord gave emphasis, but also by the repetition of thought. He spoke repeatedly of the forgiveness of injuries, and of the hollowness and hatefulness of a religion of mere outward show. He turned a second time to the important subject of prayer, and after saying, "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," He repeated the assurance by adding, "Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."