HIS country is a very extensive territory within the Empire of Immanuel. The name, 'The Land of Peace,' is indeed sometimes applied to the whole of the dominions of this Prince, while at other times it is confined to that portion of them which lies directly opposite to the Land of Carnal Security. It is in this more limited sense that we now use the title. Like the land already described, this country comprises men of various races and languages, but after they have been settled in the land and become naturalised subjects, they all use the language of Canaan.* This language is difficult at first for strangers and foreigners, but it is a beautiful speech, and very expressive. It is the language of the Court. All petitions to the Prince must be framed in it, and a Great Teacher has been appointed under the royal seal of Immanuel to instruct all newly-arrived emigrants. His royal proclamation is in these terms, 'I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.'+

When the emigrants first arrive at the frontier, they are, partly from fear, and partly from fatigue, often unable to articulate at all, and cannot even so much as sue for admittance from the sentinels set over the frontier fortresses. But when these encounter any one who appears unmistakably to be a fugitive from Belial's territory, and who can only beg admittance by his tears, or by groans which cannot be uttered, their orders are to admit him at once, and usher him into the presence of the Great Teacher, who can interpret the desires of his heart, and can afterwards enable the suppliant to clothe his wishes in suitable words.‡

Often their first question is, 'Sir, what must I do to be saved?'§ The question is asked with eager eyes and beating heart, and the words were probably learned from some of Immanuel's servants who were travelling on some business of their Prince through the Land of Carnal Security. On one occasion a great crowd of three thousand fugitives came to the frontier, and called to the King's officers, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' || and being most readily admitted by him who was then stationed at the gate with the keys of the kingdom, they were able in a few days not only to understand his speech, but themselves to join with him in publicly thanking and praising Immanuel for His clemency and royal grace.T

One who was a trusted servant of Diabolus, and was travelling with his commission to arrest and imprison any suspected fugitives from his rule, was encountered by Immanuel Himself on the public highway in the country of Belial, and was so astonished at His glorious appearance that he fell to the earth, and cried, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'** and in a very few days, so rapid was his progress, he was able to preach in the synagogues of the country, and to give his emphatic testimony on behalf of Immanuel, whose from that day he was, and whom henceforth he served.

Another petition commonly presented by immigrants is, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner; '++ while others, finding great difficulty in taking the pure language of this country into their polluted lips--for all the lips of the subjects of Diabolus are affected with a kind of leprosy, which is indeed constitutional and through their whole system come with the cry, 'Lord, teach us to pray!' or 'O Lord,

open Thou my lips!'* Now, the Great Teacher uses several means to make them acquire the pure speech of Immanuel's Land. He first touches their lips with a red-hot coal, taken with the tongs from the altar on Calvary, for, though it is long since that fire was lighted, it is still burning. With this He cauterises the leprous spots, and burns away the proud flesh, and the blood of that sacrifice that still impregnates the burning ashes has a wonderful virtue for healing wounds. He also applies a healing ointment, called the Balm of Gilead, to the raw lips. He then touches their tongue, using the word Ephphatha, which means, Be opened, on which the string of the tongue is loosed, for you must know that the impediment in the speech of these people arises very generally from their being tongue-tied; § and after this has been done, the tongue of the stammerers is ready to speak plainly. He next bids them take words, and turn to the Lord, and makes them repeat after him this short sentence, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously;'¶ and when they can repeat that, and have learned the meaning of it, he pours the oil of grace upon their lips,** which enables them to pray to Immanuel, and to praise Him to their heart's content, and to speak of His glory and His love to others, for He gives them all this injunction, 'Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.'tt Henceforth their lips are dedicated to their Lord's service; their prayers and praises are offerings as acceptable to Him as were the sacrifices of calves on the Jewish altars,‡‡ and such sacrifices they can present at all times and places: they no longer say, 'Our lips are our own;' but whatsoever they do in word, as well as in deed, they do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.§§

Before giving any further account of this country of Peace, it may be well to give a brief description of the chief frontier town, to whose friendly gates the fugitive emigrants for the most part betake themselves. It is named the City of Refuge.|||| Over its principal portal stands the name of its founder, Jehovah-shalom,'¶¶ which by interpretation is, 'The Lord will give thee peace;' and beneath runs the inscription, 'Peace, peace to

him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord.'*** This sentence of welcome, although engraved in large letters of gold in the stone slab, the poor ignorant fugitives cannot decipher until they have been instructed by the Great Teacher. In consequence of the dissemination of good education under the immediate superintendence of this Great Teacher, I found on inquiry, and from examining them, that all the children born within the city are in their earliest years well taught, and they appeared very contented and happy.+++

In the schools the first lesson - book is called the Law-book. The first edition of this book was written very long ago by a very able Teacher named Moses, and it was written upon two slabs of stone cut out of Mount Sinai. These stone slabs were broken, and others which supplied their place, and on which the same lessons were written by the finger of Immanuel Himself, were in process of time lost; but copies of these Law-lessons are in all the printed primers of the public and private schools in this city and country. This lowest standard is taught to the beginners, and is the A B C of the instruction they receive; but when they pass from this into the higher classes, they are not allowed to forget what they have first learned, but are trained to have it continually in their mind. Such is the skill of the Great Teacher that He succeeds in making pupils who have the worst memories remember these lessons. Even while I was present one of the assistants came to this Head Teacher to consult Him about some pupils whom he could not get to remember the Commandments. He at once said, Bring them to Me, and I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.‡‡‡ He seemed to use no force, but to speak gently, though with great dignity and authority, and by a secret power of His own He not only at once taught them some of these Law-lessons, but He put them in a way of mastering all the rest. This I noticed, that He never overburdened them with too long a lesson at a time, but that His plan was to give them line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.§§§ I was given also to understand that it was found necessary that every pupil in the schools should at one time or other pass under the tuition of the Head Teacher personally, so that all the children were thus taught by

the Lord Himself. It must not be imagined that the class for beginners is composed entirely of very young children. On the contrary, here I saw a little girl and her mother poring over the same lesson, while in another room I observed an old silver-haired man sitting on the bench beside his grandson, and teaching the boy the lesson which he himself had just with difficulty learned to spell through. Being curious to know what the lesson was, especially as there was an expression of deep anxiety on the old man's face, and I saw a tear fall now and again from the boy's eyes, although he had begun to learn with a laughing countenance, I leaned over them, and saw that the lesson, which was printed very plainly in large type, ran thus:'Thou shalt not kill': Thou shalt not commit adultery': Thou shalt not steal': 'Lie not one to another': 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die': The wages of sin is death': 'One jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.'*

The windows in this Class-Room for Beginners look right across to Mount Sinai, with its pillar of smoke by day, and of fire by night; and, as they face the north, the rooms look cold and cheerless, for the beams of the Light of the World, which have healing in their wings, never stream through the windows. Also from the windows may be seen the great gloomy prisons which are being built by the judges in Immanuel's Land for those who may continue to the end in their impenitence, rebellion, and crime.

After the scholars have learned this lessonbook of the Law, one of the masters brings them to the Higher School, which is the School of the Gospel; for the Law is their schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.+ This Upper or High School is situated on the other side of the square, and the windows of its class-rooms look towards the south, and are bright with the shining of the Sun of Righteousness. Indeed, the sunlight is so brilliant that it is apt at first to dazzle the eyes of the scholars, and make the letters dance before them on the page, so that the glass of some of the windows is frosted, especially in the junior class-rooms, to moderate the light. And here I observed for the first time that many of the scholars seemed to suffer from various diseases of the eye, and I was told that this was caused partly by the

leprosy that was epidemic in the country they came from, which went through the whole body, and affected the eyes as well as the lips and tongue, and partly arose from their living so much in the dark forests of Diabolus' kingdom, where at midday it is often as dark as night, being indeed a land where darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people,§ and also from the poisonous sulphurous dust that rises out of the mouth of the pit upon Mount Sinai. This blindness is not only common, but it is very difficult to cure; but I learned that the Great Physician had an eye-salve|| which has just as wonderful virtue for restoring the eyesight as his Balm of Gilead has for healing the leprosy of the lips and tongue. What strikes the traveller as remarkable is that usually the scholars have much more difficulty at first in learning to read and understand the gospel lessons than the law lessons. Yet the type in which the gospel lessons are printed is no smaller than the type used in printing the law. Indeed, one of the King's printers long ago got a special injunction to print these lessons very large, so that he might run who read them,¶ and this large type has been used by many of the printers who have succeeded him. The key to this enigma seems to be, that even in their old country they had a certain knowledge of the Law, partly handed down from their fathers, who had heard the Law given on Sinai, and partly derived from the sermons of the Great Preachers whom Immanuel has sent, and especially of one Mr Conscience, who was commissioned to remain in the land, and to itinerate through it, and who has a wonderful power of making them hear the Law, and from time to time to tremble under it, even in the country of Carnal Security, though, alas! he has not the power of making them obey it. But, with regard to acquiring a knowledge of the gospel, they had no such advantages, for of this Mr Conscience knew nothing, not even a syllable; and though some of the other Prophets and Preachers knew it, they always told them that they could only learn and receive it by leaving the land of their nativity, and coming to the school of Immanuel's Great Teacher; so that all that they announced to them of the gospel was in the way of promise of good and desirable things, which they would get if they came and sued for them at the frontier of Immanuel; and, as the poor deluded people

could not see these blessings which were so distant from them, the words conveyed to them little or no meaning: for the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.* Thus the gospel lessons are so wholly new to them that we need not wonder if they often find it very far from easy to learn them. Some of the learners, however, are much quicker than others, and a few seem able to read the first standard book, or at least its opening pages, almost at once. If the services of the Great Teacher Himself were needful in the other school, they are much more needful here. He not only requires thoroughly to heal the eyesight, as well as loose the string of the tongue, but He has to give understanding to the simple, educating their minds to understand the Scripture,† which is the name for the large volume containing all the lessons used in both the schools. He makes large use of pictures and object-lessons in teaching. For one thing, the windows looking towards the south country give the scholars a clear view of Mount Calvary with its cross and altar. One of the windows looks right out upon an open sepulchre, the stone being rolled away from its mouth, and inside they can see the linen clothes lying, and the napkin that had bound the bleeding brow of the murdered Prince who was buried there, lying carefully wrapped together in a place by itself.

In this school also is a museum filled with rare and curious objects, many of them of great antiquity. Here may be seen Aaron's rod, that budded and brought forth almonds, and a golden chest with two cherubims made of gold upon the top of it, and the golden plate out of which they seem to rise has red stains of blood on it.§ Here also is a golden candlestick of fine workmanship with seven branches, which has had a strange history. And among other things are a number of pieces of ancient brass; and when I asked what these were, my guide told me that they were the fragments of a serpent of brass that was made by Moses in the Wilderness, which, by divine appointment, he hung upon a pole among the serpent-bitten Israelites; and it came to pass that, if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived. This brass snake was preserved carefully for seven hundred years, and the people,

being given to superstition, burnt incense before it. So, when a good and reforming king, named Hezekiah, saw how they were being misled by undue veneration for it, he broke it into fragments, which are all that can now be seen. A small ticket is attached to these fragments, and on it are printed the words, written in Immanuel's own hand, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness, even so has the Son of Man been lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.'** And I heard the Head Teacher explaining to the scholars that Immanuel was once made a curse for them, even like the serpent, which is a symbol of the curse; and that, when He was hanged upon the Cross, to which he pointed out of the window, He redeemed them from the curse of His Father's broken law, as it was written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.' ++ So I understood why there was no need of Moses' serpent and pole being preserved any longer, since the wounded now (for fiery serpents still breed in large numbers in the jungle-country of Carnal Security, and bite the people with their poisonous fangs) can gaze on Immanuel's Cross, from which flows healing virtue.

In this museum also is a golden pot filled with a kind of white flour, called manna, on which Immanuel's people were fed for forty years while journeying through a great desert. It has a glistening colour, like hoar frost, and is in round grains like coriander seed, and its taste is sweet, as if it were baked with honey.‡‡ What fell from heaven in the Wilderness would not keep over a single night, but bred worms and putrified, except what fell on the Friday, which kept quite good over the next day, which was their Sabbath, so that they did not need to weary themselves with gathering it on their day of rest and worship.§§ Now it seemed strange that, seeing this food was so perishable, this potful of it should have kept fresh for thousands of years, with all their changes of hot and cold seasons. But my guide told me that Immanuel had put something into this manna to make it keep, and that it was also possessed of many other wonderful properties, so that in many respects it was superior to the manna of Moses. For instance, it has the property of never going done, however many people partake of it, and on this account, as well as on that already ex