more beautiful than earth. It meant the same thing also-mercy after judgment; the promise of blessedness and peace after sorrow and trial. The judgment and sorrow are on account of sin; the bright promise is the fruit of the love of God.

Then, when we think of heaven, let us think of the rainbow there. "God remembered Noah," even while the clouds were dark and the fierce waves were surging; God remembers his children, though the world is often a place of sadness and trial for them. His love is still the sunshine above the storm.

And that love shows itself in different ways. The rainbow teaches us that light itself is manifold. Seven colours make up the perfect glory. So is it with Love. God is wise, holy, just, almighty, and much more. These parts of his character we often call his attributes; and they may be thought of as like the several colours which make up the bright bow. But as all the colours make together the one element of light, so all God's attributes meet in love. And we see that love in CHRIST, whose gospel, like the bow of promise, assures us of the "everlasting covenant" which God has made; his own promise to all his children of safety and eternal peace.

Babel.

GENESIS xi. 1-9.

A monument in eastern lands-Common mistake about the tower-Why men resolved to build it-Was it wrong? and why?-Power and punishment of pride-Language confounded-Strange scenes-The name of the tower, and of the city built around it-Lessons-God meant the earth to be inhabited-Sin a separating thing-Four mischievous boys and their punishment-The gospel makes us one again—A Hindoo and a New Zealander-Babel and Pentecost-The one eternal song.

FAR off in eastern lands there stands a wonderful monument. Yet, perhaps, if you were to see a picture of it you would be ready to say, "Is that all?" A high, bare hill, with rough and broken sides, rising out of a vast and desolate plain. Scarcely a tree, or flower, or blade of grass. All is barren and dismal. Perhaps there might be drawn in the picture a flock of vultures slowly sailing through the air; perhaps a solitary lion standing on the hill; perhaps a jackal couched in the shadow of a cavern, and looking out for prey. Perhaps no place on earth would make a much more melancholy-looking picture. Yet that is the spot which all the

people in the world once agreed to choose as their home; they thought it so beautiful and good.

For this hill was not made when God "formed the mountains." No; it is a ruin, where the works of man, now fallen and crumbling, are heaped over with stones, earth, and dust. Travellers have sometimes digged into the hill, and underneath have found the broken "bricks" and dried-up "mortar" of which we read in this chapter-the bricks and mortar which were to be builded up into a tower whose top should reach to heaven.

Before I go any further, let us correct one mistake which many people make. They suppose that the Tower of Babel was built that, if another deluge should come, people might climb up to the top of it, and so be safe above the waters. Now, the Bible does not say this; and a little thought might have kept anybody from making the mistake. A child, who was told that the tower was meant for such a purpose, once asked, "Why, then, did the people build it down upon the plain, and not on some high mountain?" To be sure! If this had been their plan, they would have kept among the high hills, and never have journeyed into the valley of Shinar. The truth is, that men were not then afraid of a flood. God's promise was quite plain; and whenever they saw a rainbow in the sky they could not help being sure that, as he had said,

"The waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."

But they had other thoughts in their mind. They meant to keep together, to become strong by one another's help; and though they might grow to thousands of thousands, to make one place the home of all. So they determined to build the tower. Its top was to reach the clouds; it would be seen, they fancied, for hundreds of miles. Wherever any of the people might wander over that plain, stretching far away like a great level sea of land, there would be the tower still in sight, reminding them where they would find their brothers, and keeping them still. from quite losing each other.

Well, was this wrong? You say, "Yes." But why? It was quite right, was it not, to wish to help and care for one another? It could not be very wrong for them to like the thought of having one country. But this was not all. Along with these feelings there came pride. "How great we shall be !-how strong! There are hundreds of us now; by-and-bye there will be thousands-enough to fill all this wide plain of Shinar. And then we, who built this tower, will be the kings of all the rest. We will live in it or around it, and all the people in the world will look to us and come to us! What a glorious name we shall have!" This was their sin. Ah, little did they think what name the tower would soon receive!

What a day it must have been when all at once the people, who had again busily set to work, found that they could not understand each other. "Bring me some bricks," cried one. "What?" the second asked with surprise. "Bricks, I say!" he shouted. "Oh, yes! was the reply of the second; and away he ran for a load of mortar. Or one builder says to the other, "Come here!" The other understands the words to be, "Go there;" and away he runs as fast as he can. Perhaps, too, they forget each other's names. When one is spoken to, another answers. Soon there is nothing but

noise and confusion everywhere. Everybody wonders that the rest do not understand him. Then they speak louder and louder still, thinking that their words will thus be plainer; but this only makes matters worse. How stupid each man thinks his neighbour! It is quite plain that no more building work can be done. At last, when all is quieter, each man finds out a little company who can understand him. Strange good-byes are spoken, and away the companies march in different directions, each to find some separate home.

What became of the tower? A few persons remained perhaps near it, and there fixed their city; but the building which they could not finish must have been a sad sight to them. Instead of the great name they had intended to give it, they could only now call it Babel, which