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to Cruden, it occurs about eight hundred times. It is true that the word often occurs in Shakspeare without a reverential sentiment; but M. Michelet says it never occurs with a religious feeling (un sentiment religieux.) This statement is almost as erroneous as that regarding the absence of the word.

It would be easy for an English scholar to produce from Shakspeare more passages indicative of deep religious feeling than are to be found any French writer whatever.

in

THE PARSEE, JEW, AND CHRISTIAN.

A Jew entered a Parsee temple, and beheld the sacred fire. "What!" said he to the priest, "do you worship the fire?" "Not the fire," answered the priest: "it is to us an emblem of the sun, and of his genial heat."

"Do you then worship the sun as your god?" asked the Jew. "Know ye not that this luminary also is but a work of that Almighty Creator?"

"We know it," replied the priest: "but the uncultivated man requires a sensible sign, in order to form a conception of the Most High. And is not the sun the incomprehensible source of light, an image of that invisible being who blesses and preserves all things?"

"Do your people, then," rejoined the Israelite, "distinguish the type from the original? They call the sun their god, and, descending even from this to a baser object, they kneel before an earthly flame! Ye amuse the outward but blind the inward eye; and while ye hold to them the earthly, ye draw from them the heavenly light! Thou shalt not make unto thyself any image or any likeness.'"

"How do you name the Supreme Being?" asked the Parsee. "We call him Jehovah Adonai, that is, the Lord who is, who was, and who will be," answered the Jew.

"Your appellation is grand and sublime," said the Parsee; "but it is awful too."

A Christian then drew nigh, and said,

"We call him FATHER."

The Pagan and the Jew looked at each other, and said,"Here is at once an image and a reality: it is a word of the heart."

Therefore they all raised their eyes to heaven, and said, with reverence and love, "OUR FATHER!" and they took each by the hand, and all three called one another brothers!

DE NOMINE JESU.

In rebus tantis trina conjunctio mund I
E rigit humanum sensum, laudare venust E
Sola salus nobis, et mundi summa, potesta S
Venit peccati nodum dissolvere fruct V

S umma salus cunctas nituit per secula terra S.*

The letters I. H. S. so conspicuously appended to different portions of Catholic churches, are said to have been designed by St. Bernardine of Sienna, to denote the name and mission of the Saviour. They are to be found in a circle above the principal door of the Franciscan Church of the Holy Cross, (Santa Croce,) in Florence, and are said to have been put there by the saint on the termination of the plague of 1347, after which they were commonly introduced into churches. The letters have assigned to them the following signification:

Jesus hominum Salvator-Jesus, the Saviour of men.
In hoc salus-In him is salvation.

In times momentous appeared the world's triple conjunction,
Encouraging human hearts to shout melodious praises.
S ole salvation for us, that power exalted 'bove measure,
Unloosed the bonds of sin through the precious atonement.
Salvation illumines all earth through ages unceasing.

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A maker of playing-cards, which, like missels, were illuminated in those times, was one day remonstrated with by St. Bernardine, upon the sinfulness of his business. The card-maker pleaded the needs of his family. "Well, I will help you," said the saint, and wrote the letters I. H. S., which he advised the card-maker to paint and gild. The new card "took," and the saint himself travelled about the country as a poster of these little sacred handbills of the Church.

about REST.

THE FLOWER OF JESSE.

1520.

There is a flower sprung of a tree,
The root of it is called Jesse,
A flower of price,-

There is none such in Paradise.

Of Lily white and Rose of Ryse,

Of Primrose and of Flower-de-Lyse,
Of all flowers in my devyce,

The flower of Jesse beareth the prize,

For most of all

To help our souls both great and small.

I praise the flower of good Jesse,
Of all the flowers that ever shall be,
Uphold the flower of good Jesse,
And worship it for aye beautee;
For best of all

That ever was or ever be shall.

BEAUTIFUL LEGEND.

One day Rabbi Judah and his brethren, the seven pillars of Wisdom, sat in the Court of the Temple, on feast-day, disputing One said that it was to have attained sufficient wealth, yet without sin. The second, that it was fame and praise of all men. The third, that it was the possession of power to rule the State. The fourth, that it consisted only in a happy home. The fifth, that it must be in the old age of one who is rich, powerful, famous, surrounded by children and children's children. The sixth said that all that were vain, unless a man keep all the ritual law of Moses. And Rabbi

Judah, the venerable, the tallest of the brothers, said, "Ye have spoken wisely; but one thing more is necessary. He only can find rest, who to all things addeth this, that he keepeth the tradition of the elders."

There sat in the Court a fair-haired boy, playing with some lilies in his lap, and, hearing the talk, he dropped them with astonishment from his hands, and looked up-that boy of twelveand said, "Nay, nay, fathers: he only findeth rest, who loveth his brother as himself, and God with his whole heart and soul. He is greater than fame, and wealth, and power, happier than a happy home, happy without it, better than honored age; he is a law to himself, and above all tradition." The doctors were astonished. They said, "When Christ cometh, shall He tell us greater things?" And they thanked God, for they said, "The old men are not always wise, yet God be praised, that out of the mouth of this young suckling has His praise become perfect."

PERSIAN APOLOGUE.

In Sir William Jones's Persian Grammar may be found the following beautiful story from NISAMI. Mr. Alger gives a metrical translation in his Poetry of the East.

One evening Jesus arrived at the gates of a certain city, and sent his disciples forward to prepare supper, while he himself, intent on doing good, walked through the streets into the market-place.

And he saw at the corner of the market some people gathered together, looking at an object on the ground; and he drew near to see what it might be. It was a dead dog, with a halter around his neck, by which he appeared to have been dragged through the dirt; and a viler, a more abject, a more unclean thing never met the eyes of man.

And those who stood by looked on with abhorrence.

"Faugh!" said one, stopping his nose: "it pollutes the air." "How long," said another, "shall this foul beast offend our sight?" "Look at his torn hide," said a third: "

one could

not even cut a shoe out of it."
"all draggled and bleeding."
has been hanged for thieving."

"And his ears," said a fourth, "No doubt," said a fifth, "he

And Jesus heard them, and looking down compassionately on the dead creature, he said, "Pearls are not equal to the whiteness of his teeth!"

Then the people turned towards him with amazement, and said among themselves, "Who is this? It must be Jesus of Nazareth, for only HE could find something to pity and approve even in a dead dog." And being ashamed, they bowed their heads before him and went each on his way.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.

The following description is alleged to be derived from an ancient manuscript sent by Publius Lentulus, President of Judea, to the Senate of Rome :—

"There lives at this time in Judea, a man of singular character, whose name is Jesus Christ. The barbarians esteem him as their prophet; but his followers adore him as the immediate offspring of the immortal God. He is endowed with such unparalleled virtue as to call back the dead from their graves and to heal every kind of disease with a word or a touch." His person is tall and elegantly shaped; his aspect, amiable and reverend; his hair flows in those beauteous shades which no united colors can match, falling in graceful curls below his ears, agreeably couching on his shoulders, and parting on the crown of his head; his dress, that of the sect of Nazarites; his forehead is smooth and large; his cheeks without blemish, and of roseate hue; his nose and mouth are formed with exquisite symmetry; his beard is thick and suitable to the hair of his head, reaching a little below his chin, and parting in the middle below; his eyes are clear, bright, and serene.

"He rebukes with mildness, and invokes with the most tender and persuasive language,-his whole address, whether in word or deed, being elegantly grave, and strictly characteristic of so exalted a being. No man has seen him laugh, but the

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