meadows in green, that make the tulip glow with rich streaks of brilliant hue, that give the rose its blushing bloom, adorn the modest violet, and give the lily its surface of silvery white, and that cheer the feathered tribes in vocal harmony, till every spray sounds loud its Maker's praise. Yet, gloomy as the scene would be, it does not fully show the moral state of those nations that "sit in darkness and see no light," where the night is not yet chased away, nor the "shadows flee before his coming." are My young readers might have been taught to enter heathen temples, where carved images of wood and stone prayed to and worshipped; instead of attending a Sabbath school, where their teachers meet to feed them with "the sincere milk of the word." Instead of reading God's own Book the Bible or the "Child's Companion;" they might have been taught to join in the war song and dance of the heathen. Should not your hearts thrill with thankfulness and praise, that you have been born in a land where the true light shineth, and have not been left in uncertainty as to a future state; that Jesus by his coming into our world has dispersed the darkness,' and revealed to you "the narrow way which leads to life ?" And when we endeavour to contemplate those unknown agonies he endured, when, in the garden and on the tree, he bore the weight of the sins of a world lying in iniquity, and ended his despised sojourn here below in the grave, are you not led to exclaim," What shall I render?" Jesus answers, My son, give me thy heart." And can you withhold your heart? Jesus, with all his dying agonies and precious blood, has bought it. Will you withhold from him what is his right? "Behold, he stands at the door and knocks ;" open wide your heart and he will enter; give up all sin, whether it be in thoughts, acts, or temper, and in its room take all the promises of Christ as your own, take that peace of mind that will bear you up under every trial; "Choose that better part : "Which done, the poorest can no wants endure, And which, not done, the richest must be poor.' 66 Take that lasting consolation, that blessed sustaining prospect of a remaining rest," and an "everlasting habitation," a crown of glory and a palm of victory ;" and you will be enabled on your dying bed to cry aloud, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" Neglect the one thing needful, and what remains? It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you;" nothing remains, but a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation that shall consume all the adversaries of our God. T. K. F. MY SUNDAY SCHOOL My Sunday school! my Sunday school! Thou shalt not be forgot : My Sunday school! my Sunday school! Where, in God's holy book, I learn The words that fell from Jesu's tongue, His cure of blind and dumb, And how the Saviour loved the And bade the children come. young, My Sunday school! my Sunday school! That my amendment may repay My teacher's care and love: May all the lessons taught me there That I, O Lord, thy name may fear, S. W. P. KING ZEDEKIAH CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITY. ZEDEKIAH was the last king of Judah, and reigned about 600 years before Christ. He was the son of Josiah, the good young king, whose early piety I dare say you reZedekiah came to the throne in the following manner. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, having taken Jerusalem, carried away Jeconiah, the king of No. 83. Nov 1844. member. M Judah, Zedekiah's nephew. The throne of Judah then being vacant, Nebuchadnezzar gave it to Zedekiah, after altering his name, which before was Mattaniah. So Zedekiah began to reign when he was twenty-one years old, by permission of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. In order to ensure his obedience, Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God" to be faithful to him, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13. But no sooner had young Zedekiah obtained possession of the throne, than he began to use his power for bad purposes. Instead of reigning for God, as his father Josiah had done, he "stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel," 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13. As it is also recorded, that " he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done," 2 Kings xxiv. 19, we may conclude that impiety, avarice, and oppression, were the principal features of his reign. In this manner Zedekiah reigned for about nine years, when he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, in spite of the solemn oath he had taken to serve him. In consequence of this, Nebuchadnezzar marched his army into Judea, and besieged him in Jerusalem. This siege lasted two years, for Jerusalem was strongly fortified; and though Nebuchadnezzar took most of the |