never failed to admonish him, if he was about to do anything wrong. And when his life was about to be sacrificed, and he had resolved to make no effort to save it, the absence of any admonition from his monitor, was the reason he gave for feeling that he was right.

About the time of Christ, the application of this word demon was beginning to be confined to evil spirits; but such was not exclusively its usage. A few times it is used in a good sense, in the New Testament, or at least, as comprehending both good and bad spirits.

In the New Testament, it is more commonly than otherwise associated with the sick, insane, etc., as being the cause of these infirmities. Such was the doctrine which prevailed in the East; and the Jews brought it back with them from the captivity. It is evident, therefore, that devil is no proper translation of daimon or daimonion. Demon is the proper rendering. And when the verb form of the word is used, as is often the case, demonized, or better still, possessed of demons, is the true rendering. To cure one of these unfortunates, to expel the demon is better than exorcise; for the exorcists were a set of impostors, who pretended to expel demons by certain forms of words, or incantations, and other nonsensical methods; and the word exorcise seems to imply that Jesus was one of that class, as his enemies claimed, contrary to all evidence.

It is hardly necessary to give the passages where these words occur, as they are found in all places where the possession of devils is alluded to.

The revisers, while they follow the old version, give us demon in the margin. There is but one devil or satan, mentioned in the New Testament; and the Greek is diabolos. He had his angels, to be sure; but

this did not make them devils; and we are not aware that they are so called. Beelzebub is called the prince of demons; so is satan; but neither of these names is ever applied to their subordinates.

A few passages where these words occur, otherwise than in connection with possession, may be of service in this place. There are two instances in Acts 17th. First, where Paul is suspected of being a setter-forth of strange gods. The original of gods is the word we are discussing. It is the same, when Paul

ceive

says, "I peryou are very religious," as the rendering should be. When Paul spoke of Jesus and the resurrection, the Athenean thought he referred to spirits as objects of worship. And when the apostle calls them very religious, he means that they were devoted to the spirits of the dead.

The word is twice rendered devils in 1 Cor. 10: 20, though there is no allusion to possession. Rather, they are spoken of as objects of worship. like the passages in the Acts just noticed. "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils (demons); and I would not that ye should have communion with devils." The objects of worship in those days were the spirits of the departed, good and bad; and these are alluded to in the foregoing passage. So in verse 21, we read of the cup of devils, and the table of devils.

1 Tim. 4: 1. Here we have the doctrine of demons, meaning probably, the doctrine concerning demons.

Jas. 2: 19. "Thou believest that God is one. Thou doest well. The demons also believe and shudder." 3: 15. This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish (demoniacal).

Rev. 16: 14, 18: 2. Here there is a reference to unclean spirits, and

spirits of demons; and Babylon is called a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit. It may be added, that demons are called unclean spirits, in connection with possession in the Gospels. The treatment of the present subject by the revisers, is another illustration of what has often been said, that their best work is in the margin.

W. E. MANLEY.

THE DEATH OF CHILDREN. "Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

Our Saviour says that the "angels" or souls or spirits of our departed little ones "do always behold the face of our Father in Heaven." That is, they are taken into divine. favor, placed very near the throne and are honored with the gracious presence of the loving Heavenly Father. The compassionate Saviour who took little children in his arms and blessed them when he was on earth, will also receive them in his arms in Heaven and bless them more abundantly there. It affords bereaved parents the purest and richest consolation, whose hearts bleed at the early death of their children, to believe that the dear objects of their love are in the arms of their Saviour who will protect them from all harm and bless them forevermore.

Those who have committed to the grave the bodies, one after another of their little ones fully realize what comfort is derived from the belief that their souls, their real identities rejoice in Heaven; and realizing that they have such treasures there, the parents become more and more ready and willing to depart thither, that where their treasures are they may be also.

Mourn their loss we must, but we should never feel ungrateful against God, or fault the divine arrangements.

Our Father knows when it is best to call them home, and by so doing he draws us through our affections nearer to himself and Heaven where our treasures are. We should rejoice that our children live with crowned immortals, because they are transplanted from earth to Heaven, "waiting our arrival there."

Children are hands by which we take hold of Heaven, by these tendrils we grasp it and climb thitherward; our treasures having gone there, our hearts are or should be there also.

If you are doubting and desire to learn that you are immortal, pray, learn the divine law, obey it. Seek the divine guide, follow him, love that which is holy, delight to do your Heavenly Father's will, he that doeth the will of God shall know the truth of his doctrine; live like a spiritual being and you will be able to say: "I know that if this body dies I do not die with it; I shall go home to my Father. Immortality is not learned so much through argument as by holy living. When one learns to cry out to God for wisdom, and yields his will and life to the guidance of faith and hope and love, when he will follow his heaven appointed guide, he will learn that we are not these bodies, we are children of God and heirs of immortality. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. If any man will do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine." Great hopes for great souls, and Christian duties performed by those who cherish the high hope of immortal life.

The death of children as we call it, is but a passport to a higher life, taking them from this state of joys and sorrows, and transplanting them where all is joy and no sorrow, where they will have diviner care, wiser and tenderer love than ours, love

mighty to keep from all evil. We could not go when the child left, but we shall follow, we shall go to them; they will expect us; they wait for us, we shall find them, we shall know them, they will be ours in a more real and blessed sense than ever before.

God help us so to prepare ourselves by faith in Jesus-by earnest Christian living, by doing the will of God, that when we pass over the river we may at once be admitted near the throne where our darlings

DIVIDING THE WATERS.

And God said, Let there be a firmanent in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Gen. 1: 6.

We understand this language to refer to the creation of that aeriel expanse which we call the atmosphere, and the elevation of a large portion of the watery element into the state of clouds and vapors, to float in the upper regions.

Mr. Dalton has calculated that the quantity of water which falls from the air in rain and dew in one year in England and Wales only, at 150,000 millions of tons. Of this immense amount about one-third is carried off by rivers and subterraneous passages.

This operation divided the waters that belong to our earth into two portions, as well as into two States. The state of water in the seas is as dissimilar to its state in the clouds, as if they were unrelated substances; vapor and water would not be imagined to be the same things, if we did not know their relationship to each other; but the quantity of each may not so greatly differ; for imagination can hardly conceive the enormous amount of this fluid which is always suspended as moving in the airy regions above us.

Mr. Dalton estimates that 75,000 millions of tons water are yearly evaporated into the atmosphere from the surface of England and Wales alone. And Mr. Thomson estimates the quantity to be twice as large. He says that the annual evaporation from the surface of Great Britain is equal to thirty-two inches of water. But the mean fall of rain over all Great Britain cannot be less than thirty-six inches. Hence the evaporation is less than the rain by four inches. This excess must be supplied from the neighboring seas. The four inches of rain not again elevated in the state of vapor must be annually carried into the sea by means of the different rivers. Now a quantity of water which would cover the whole surface of Great Britain to the depth of four inches would amount to 1.238,784, 152,000, 000 cubic inches, which is equal to 4.467,725,610,767 imperial gallons, or 17.729,069,844 tons. And eight times this enormous quantity ascends in vapor every year from Great Britain alone, and nine times this inconceivable amount falls on the same country in rain.

The dividing of the waters was by God's appointment, and the process by which this division is perpetuated and preserved, is one of the wonders of creation. For water is the life blood of the world, were there no water, there could be no vegetables, without vegetables there could be no animals, and without animals, there could be no men. And to keep it in circulation is not less needful for the health of this world, than is the flow of the red rivers through our veins for the health of man. And to do this the waters must be divided. The first step in this wonderful work is the magnificent process of evapo

ration.

Softly the work begins, and softly

it is carried on as the cloudy cisterns sail slowly over fields and forests, hill and dale, leaving no district unvisited, no spot unwatered. Who that intelligently contemplates all this, but must be rapt into admiration and gratitude, in view of the designing wisdom and diffusive goodness of God, as seen in every passing

shower!

And incredible and startling as it may appear at first, the fact needs to be known, that as great an amount of water daily flows upward by evaporation into the skies, as all the rivers of the globe pour into the ocean, which has been computed to amount to 186.240 cubic miles per annum a a quantity sufficient to cover all the land of the earth to the depth of three feet. Such are the results accomplished by the machinery of the firmament, which, under all its tremendous weight of labor, never wears out, never breaks down, never fails to do its work at the right time, and in the right way.

picture the scene as it appeared nearly nineteen centuries ago. There, Tid upon a bed of straw, lies in a manger a helpless babe. This is the King of the Jews, and not of the Jews only, but of the whole earth; for as St. Paul says, "God has given him a name which is above every name." 'Tis at an especially fitting time this child-the light of the world -is born, for the world around is dark. In Judea Pharisee and Sadducee, both alike forgetting the spirit of the law of Moses, contend only for the letter. Each in the words of the

Master, pays tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and omits the weightier matters of the law, while truth,

honor, honesty, and morality disappear, and in the fierce struggle for supremacy, murder, and bloodshedthe dagger of the secret assassin and the open war of contending factions. take the place of votes and arguments, and he who succeeds in obtaining the much coveted position of high priest is no longer "the Lord's anointed," but the delegate and agent of men, foully polluted with every crime. In the Gentile world matters are, if possible, even worse, and wickedness still more rampant. Roman simplicity has given place to a barbarous luxury, and Roman sternness, that revelled in the fierce delights of war, to ar effeminate wantonness, that found its greatest gratification in the cruel sports of the arena, in the writhing of the wretched captive, and the death struggles of the hired gladiators, who are "butchered to make a Roman holi

day." It is at this period that the Prince of Peace is born, who, when he attains to manhood, preaches doctrines of sublimest purity, and re

veals the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man to a world sunk in deepest degradation, where even the idea of home had almost disappeared, for alike in Judea and throughout the Gentile world a man's worst foes were generally those of his own household. It is, then, especially fitting that we should celebrate the birth of Christ by gather ing again in the old home the scattered members of the family, and that at this season parents and children, brothers and sisters, with, perhaps, the aged grandmother, and the more distant relatives, should sit down together round the happy social board, and recall pleasant reminiscences, of those who are far away in distant lands, or who have already finished their earthly career, and that our breast should also be filled with

kindly and generous thoughts for humanity at large, and that we should endeavor to afford pleasure or assistance to those not blessed with such abundant means as have fallen to our

lot. Yes, let us bless God for his goodness to us, and prove our love for Him whom we have not seen by manifesting our love for the brother whom we have seen, for love to God means love to man, and in the words of the Apostle, "he who says he loves God and hates his brother is a lia." Let this Christmas season awaken kindly thoughts and loving memories that shall elevate and purify us, and make us stronger for such coming years or months of life as may yet remain to us. And let not our Christmastide evaporate in kindly thoughts and loving memories alone without leaving any permanent result behind. Christ came not to teach men to lose themselves in ecstatic reveries and mystic dreams, but to kindle a healthy enthusiasm for humanity that should impel them to perpetually increased efforts for the good of their fellows. Men have sought to serve God by living as hermits in caves, sometimes even chained with iron chains to the rock; but as St. Benedict wisely declared. "The servants of God are chained, not with iron, but with the love of Christ," and they must go forth into the world to deeds of active benevolence. Yes, not by selfmortification, but by cheerful, cheery usefulness, we must celebrate the unique event in the history of the world-the birth of Christ--every day of our lives, and not merely once a year on Christmas Day.

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

The day had fled from all Judea's plains, and darkness hung her ebon trophies obsequious on every silken whisper of the breeze. The world

was wrapt in sleep, and naught from far or near disturbed the rural shade. The heavens shone bright, and earth and all around spoke in propitious smiles, and accents full of love, assuring thoughtful hearts that man was not forgotten, not uncared for in heaven.

The shepherds as ever were guarding their fleecy care, and, to beguile the tardy flight of time, amuse, converse, and note the passing granduer of nocturnal scenes; and thus their virgil hours passed sweetly by. Their eyes were wont to look on nightly scenes, and ears to listen to nightly sounds, but this was one unlike the night of former times.

The

The scattered clouds rolled up and back, like ocean's surface rocked by winds adverse. Phenomena, unknown, bedecked the ether round. Nature seemed waiting, and suspense sat prominent on all her works. shepherd's gazed, admired. quaked with fear. Each eyed the other with significance which spoke what meaneth this? What dread, sublime, and strange events betoken all these signs?

and

And yet each tongue was mute. Pensive amazement resigned, and every distant murmuring sound came lightly on the zephyr's wings. And all was still! when lo! in haste a light-clad messenger appeared, and sudden glory bursting on the scene bespake him one from Heaven. 'Tis Gabriel, dismiss your fear; let all forebodings of impending harm be be given to the winds. This is the hour of joy. Tidings of gladness unto you we bring and to all men everywhere. The fullness of the time has some, and the desire of all nations is of Abraham's seed. This day, in David's town, the babe Messiah may be found in fashion as a man. O, haste to Bethlehem, and see, for lo! his infant arm shall gather strength